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Christian evidences 


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Introducto 


INTRODUCTORY LESSONS 


ON 


‘CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 


BY 


RICHARD “WHATELY, D. D.. 


ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. 


From the Twelfth London Hdition. 


* 
PHILADELPHIA: 
H. HOOKER, 8. W. COR. EIGHTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS, 
P « 
1856 


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ADVERTISEMENT, 


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Tur topics selected, and the language employed in 
the following Lessons, are, designedly, such as seemed 
best adapted to meet the wants of various descriptions 
of readers; including such young persons as have been 
receiving, not what is called “a i ad education,” 
but that instruction merely which is afforded ina 
the best conducted elementary schools, whether for 
the dicher: or the poorer classes. 

To those who have opportunity and inclination to 
pursue this branch of study, these pages, it is hoped, 

"> may prove a useful introduction to it; and to those 
“again of less leisure, and more limited means, they 
may supply a convenient compendium. 

Some have doubted, and some perhaps still doubt, 
the possibility of bringing before the minds, either of 

young people of the age of fourteen or fifteen,—or « 


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4 . ADVERTISEMENT. 


. in 
again, of the less educated classes at any age,—evi- 
dences that shall engage their attention, and afford 


_ them rational conviction. But the great circulation 


of these Lessons for several years, has afforded ample 
opportunity for trying the experiment; and the re- 
sult has been that it has been found possible to render 
then highly interesting and instructive to. persons of 
various ages and conditions. Let the trial but be 
fairly made; 7. €. by a competent instructor, and” on 
such as have been for some time in a well conducted 
school, where the business is not confined to the mere 
learning of words by rote; and the most complete 
success may be confidently anticipated, not from mere 
conjecture, but from the experience which has now’ 
been gained, = 

All matter of controversy between different Churches 
has been carefully excluded from these Lessons: so 
that they are adapted to the use of all professed 
Christians, of whatever denomination. And accord- 
ingly the work has actually been approved and em- 
ployed by members of various Churches for several 
years past. The only question treated of, is that 
which must be the basis of all others pertaining to 
Christianity :—*“ Was it from Heaven, or of Men?” 
_ If, indeed, there be any persons who teach to the 


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ADVERTISEMENT. sa oa 


children and others placed under their care, a religion 
which they do not themselves believe, but which they 
consider as a serviceable:kind’ of delusion for Keeping 
the vulgar in subjection; these persons may be ex- * 
pected to disapprove of such a work as the present, 
from an apprehension that the more people reflect-and 
inquire, the less disposed they will be to believe any- 
thing that is not true. But, for the very same reason, 
that is, because a habit of careful examination and 
just reasoning enables men to distinguish truth and 
falsehood, those who do believe what they teach, will 
be glad to place i in the hands of their pupils books cal- 
culated to improve them i in such habits. And since 
_it is found to be generally the best course to confine 
the learner’s attention to one question at a time, the 
‘present work is limited to that one whereon all, of 
whatever denomination, must agree, and which they 
must all set out from. 

It is not meant to be implied that the various points 
on which Christians have disagreed with each other 
are of small or. of no importance. But, on the other 
hand, it is evident that these are not the only points 
deserving of attention: and also, that there is a 
danger lest these should receive a disproportionate or 
exclusive attention, through the lively interest usually 


* 
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6 _ ADVERTISEMENT. 


excited by controversy; so that Christians may thus 
be left ill-instructed in the points common to them 
with other professed Christians, and at a loss to meet 
the sceptic or the infidel, when demanding “a reason 


»of the hope that is in them.” | 


+ 


- 


R. 


‘ CONTENTS. 


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: PAGE 
Preratory ADDRESS TO Youna CHRISTIANS.... 9 
LESSON 


I. First Risk of CHRISTIANITY ..2ceceeese 11 

IL, Parra snp: CREDULITY : oe Uline «ol cee seca 19 

LIT Amore HOORS, «sa: css.0c0a wae eee ene 26 

LY-.: PROPUROTHOEY, «02a. vawewh ee own wade tee 31 
Vor tonne) Park 1. che gi 2 aes 37 

Vo Mis. Park iPr goose 43 

ALL A IRAOT Moe. DAPMELLD 2 Pais os ne Rasteh «4.0 AT 
VIII. WonpDERS AND SIGNS ...ccccccecccccccs 55 

4 : IX. Summary OF EVIDENCES .....ccccccccce 61 


X. INTERNAL EVIDENCES. Part Lessettes.. 69 


XI. Internat Evipences. Part II..... Pre eet. 
XII. Inrernan Evipences. Part III........ . 85 
XIII... Ossecrfons.: Part I wc... pececececee . 100 
mye Cre rmcrorits Dart LP oe oa dee 108 
MVa MODERN DEWS, Part DT .uic'soiciy «ccdec 120 
a1. Monsen, Jaws, Part Il isos cee ok 127 


Lines SuaGEsteD By THE PERUSAL OF THE 
LAST ‘wo LEssons...... print beer DE TNE 135 


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PREFACE. 


ADDRESSED TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS OF ALL RANKS. 


Ir was chiefly for your use that the following Les- 
sons were drawn up; though we hope they may be 
found useful to many grown persons also. But we 
haye endeavoured to make them so plain, as to be 
easily understood by young people who have been well 
taught, and not inattentive to their learning, 

It is not expected that these Lessons should be 
fully understood by any one who may have been so ill 
brought up as to have read nothing of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and to be quite ignorant of the Christian re- 
ligion. ‘The Lessons were not written for the use of 
ignorant Heathens, in order to convert them to Christi- 
anity ; but for the use of those who are the children of 
Christian parents, and who have been receiving the 
advantage of education. 

And among the things you have learned, we take 
for granted you have some acquaintance with sacred 
history, and with the lessons of Divine wisdom and 
goodness which are to be drawn from it. 


(9) 


1U PREFACE. _ 


It is to be hoped that you have also endeavoured to 
“jut in practice what you have been learning, so as to 
be the better for it in your lives: else, you will not 
have been taking advantage as you ought of the great 
blessing you enjoy, in having been born and brought 
up in this country, instead of being the child of igno- 
rant savages. | “ . 

-» But your having received such instruction as you 
have, will not make these Lessons the less interesting 
or the less useful to you. On the contrary, this will » 
have been the best preparation for your reading them ; we 
with pleasure and with profit. For we do not at all 
mean that young people should be left without any 
religious belief or knowledge till they come to read 

» such a book as this. But it is thought desirable that 
you, who have been early introduced, by little and 
little, to such a knowledge of Christianity as your age 
would admit of, should afterwards be further taught 
how it was first brought in and spread through the 
world; and on what reasonable grounds it may be 
maintained and defended: “that you may know the 
certainty of those things wherein you have been in- 
structed.”* 

a * Luke i. 4. 


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CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 


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LESSON I. 
FIRST RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 


§ 1. Suppostne you were asked the question 
how you came to be a Christian, perhaps you 
would answer that it is because you were born 
and brought up in a Christian country, and that 
your parents were Christians, and had taught 
you to believe that the Christian religion is true. 
And if, again, your parents were asked the same 
question, perhaps they might give the same an- 
swer. They might say, that their parents had 
brought them up as Christians; and so on. 

Perhaps, however, they would have some bet- 
ter reason than this to give, for believing in their 
religion; but then, most likely, they are ac- 
quainted with other persons who have not. For 
it is certain, that there is many a professed 
Christian, who can give no other reason for his 
being so, than that he received the religion from 
his parents, and they, from theirs; and so on, 
for many generations back. 

But you know that it cannot always have been 

11 


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12 © OURISTIAN bt ag [ Lissoy 
a ’ 
SO. You know that the Christian religion had s 
beginning. You know that the disciples of Jesus 
‘Christ, and. their followers, ‘went about among 
various nations, making converts to his religion, 
‘ among people who had been worshipers of the 
Sun and Moon, and of. various false gods. Our 
forefathers were among those nations. In former 
‘days, the people of these Islands* were what we 
eall Heathen, or Pagans; that is, worshipers 
‘of a number of supposed gods, whom they be- 
lieved to govern the world, and. to whom they 
offered sacrifices and prayers. We have among 
us a kind of monument of this, in the names of 
the days of the week; each day having been 
dedicated [or made sacred] to some one of their 
gods. Thus, the first day of the week, which we 
sometimes call the Lord’s day, in honor of the 
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, still keeps also 
» the name of Sunday, from its having been dedi- 
cated, in former times, to the worship of the 
Sun: as Monday was to the Moon; Tuesday to 
Tuesco, or Mars, the god of war; Wednesday 
to Woden, or Mercury; Thursday, to Thor, or 
Jupiter, and so of the rest. 

Now our forefathers, who were worshipers of 
these gods, would have told any one who might 
have questioned them on the subject, that this 
was the religion of their country, and what they 
had learned from their parents. And at the pre- 
sent day, there are many uations still in the same 


* Great Britain. « 
+ See Saturday Magazine, Vol. IV., pp. 8, 16, 24, 48, 72, 
136, and 240. 


- 


“# 


Lj] © First RIE OF CHRISTIANITY. , 13 
condition -with our forefathers ; among others, 
great numbers of our fellow-subjects in the Bri- 
tish' dominions, in the East Indies, have been 
brought. up as Pagans, and worship various false 
gods. And, again, there are many who are fol- 
lowers. of Mohammed, whom they hold to be a 
prophet superior to Jesus Christ. -, 

§ 2. Now, what I want you to consider ig 
this: Have you any better reason for believing 


*y 


+ 


in the truth of the Christian religion, than a ° 


Mahommedan has for believing in his religion, 
or the Pagans in theirs? And do you think you 
can learn, and ought to learn, to give some bet- 
ter reason? They believe what their parents 
have told them, merely for that reason, and be- 
cause it is the religion of their country, and the 
wisest men of the nation have told them it ig 
true. If you are content to do the same, then, 
though there may be a great difference. between 
your religion and theirs, there is no difference at 
all in the grounds of your belief and of theirs. 
If ten persons, for example, all hear different ac- 
counts of some transaction, and each believes 
just what he happens to hear from his next 
neighbor, then, if nine of those accounts are 
false, and one true, he who chances to have heard 
the true one, is right only by accident, and has 
no better grounds for his belief than the rest. 
In the same manner, if several different persons 
hold each the religion of their fathers, and have 
no other reason, and seek no other reason for 
doing so, then, though one of them may happen 
to believe a true religion and the rest false ones, 
2 


14 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 
x * 

it is plain that he has no better grounds for his 

belief than they. What he believes may be in 

itself right; but we cannot say that he is more 

right in so believing it than the others are. : 
§ 8. Now do you think it is the duty of each 

man to keep to the religion of his fathers, with-. 


out seeking any proofs of its being true, but 


satisfied with merely taking it on trust, because 
his teachers have told him so? If so, our fore- 
fathers would have been wrong in renouncing 
their Pagan religion, and embracing Christianity. 
They had been brought up in the worship of the 
Sun, and Moon, and Woden, and their other 
vods; and so had the ancient Greeks, and 


Romans, to whom the Apostles preached. This 


had been the long-established religion of their 
country, handed down to them from their fore- 
fathers, many of whom were great statesmen, and 
wise and learned writers; and if this had been a 
sufficient reason for their keeping to it without 
inquiry, they would have been bound to reject 
the Gospel, and continue Pagans. 

And this we know is what many of them did; 
refusing to listen to the Apostles and others, 
who offered them proof that the Christians had 
‘not followed cunningly-devised fables in making 
known to them the coming and power of the 
Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter i 16.) Now we 
cannot think these men acted more wisely than 
those Pagans who set themselves to inquire what 
was true, and who did embrace Christianity. 

§ 4. These last must have had strong reasons 
for doing as they did. It could not have been 


T.] FIRST RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 15 

: + ," 
from love of change for its own sake, or mere 
idle whim; for we know that many of them had 
to face ridicule, and blame, and sometimes perse- 
cution, from their friends and countrymen. And, 
what is more, they had to change their mode of 
life, and to renounce, on becoming Christians, 
many evil habits which had been tolerated in the 
Pagan religions. For we find the Apostles,— 
Paul especially,—speaking often of the abomina- 
ble vices in which the Pagans had been accus- 
tomed to indulge, and which the converts to 
Christianity were required to abstain from, Ephe- 
sians ii. 1: “ And you hath he made alive [ quick- 
ened] who were dead in trespasses and sins, 
wherein in times past ye walked according to the 
course of this world * * * fulfilling the desires 
of the flesh and of the mind.” Peter tells the 
Christians he is writing to, [1 Peter iv. 3,] that 
‘the time past of their life may suffice to have 
wrought the will of the Gentiles ;” ¢. e. to have 
lived as the Gentiles did according to their sinful 
inclinations ; ‘ wherein,” says he, “they think it 
strange that you run not with them into the same 
excéss of riot.” And you will find mention made 
in many other parts of the New Testament, of 
the change of life which the Christians submit- 
ted to. 

Now it must be a difficult thing for a man to 
bring himself to throw off (as the early converts 
to Christianity must have done) his early habits, 
aud his veneration for the gods of his country in 
whose worship: he had been brought up, and his 
reverence for wise, and illustrious, and powerful 


16 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


men among his countrymen, and his regard for 
the good opinion of his neighbors, and also his 
care for his own peace and safety. Yet all this 
must have been done by many of those of our 
forefathers and other Pagans, who first embraced 
the Christian religion. They must, therefore, 
have had a strong conviction of the truth of the 
religion; not from their having been brought up 
in it, as you were; for it was quite the contrary 
with them; but for some other reason. They 
must have had some convincing evidence of its 
truth; or-else we may be sure they would not 
have received it. 

And these men could not have been convinced 
of the truth of the Gospel by any such experience 
as many Christians have, of that inward consola- 
_ tion and peace of mind, and enlightening of the 
understanding, produced by their religion: which 
affords them a satisfactory assurance of its coming 
from God. For, those who had not embraced 
Christianity conld not have had this experience. 
And yet some convincing proofs they must have 
had, to lead them to embrace it, in spite of so 
many prejudices, and so many Gifficulties. 

~§$5,, And it appears that they were taught 
by the Apostles not only to have a reason, but 
also to be able to give a reason to others, for 
the faith which they held. Be “ready always, 
[says the Apostle Peter,] to give an answer [or 
defence | to every one that asketh a reason of the 
hope that is in you.” And it does certainly seem 
very fair that they should be asked by their 
neighbors, and should be expected to answer 


I.] FIRST RISE OF CHRISTIANITY. 17 


the question, ‘‘Why do you renounce the gods 
of the country, and embrace the religion of this 
Jesus, and call on us to do the same?” This, I 
say, would appear a very fair question to be asked 
-of persons living in the midst of Pagans, and 
educated as such. 

But perhaps you may think this was not at all 
intended to apply to you who have had the hap- 
piness of being brought up in a Christian coun- 
try. You should remember, however, that you 
may some time or other chance to meet with 
some of these Pagans, or Mohammedans, whom 
we have been speaking of; to some of whom we 
have sent missionaries to convert them. And 
besides this, you may hereafter meet with persons 
of our own nation, who doubt or disbelieve the 
truth of Christianity; and their doubt or disbe- | 
lief is likely to be very much strengthened, if they 4 
find that you have no better reason for being 
Christians, than the Turks have for being Mo- 
hammedans, or the ancient Greeks and Romans 
for worshiping Jupiter; or your own fore- 
fathers Thor and Woden; namely, that such is 
the religion of the country. They will be apt to 
say, ‘“ These religions cannot be all true; but 
they may be all equally false: they are, perhaps, 
only so many different forms of superstition, in 
which the people of different countries have been 
brought up, and which they all believe in, each 
because they have been brought up in it, without 
seeking for any other reason.” or 

§ 6. The Apostle’s direction, therefore, you 
may be sure, applies to all Christians in every 

Q* 


18 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ LEsson - 


age and country. It is needful for all of them 
to be able to give a reason of the hope that is in 
them. And among others you may give as one 
reason, what I have just put before you; that 
those who first embraced Christianity, renouncing 
for it, as they did, their early prejudices, and 
their habits, and often their friends, and their 
comfort, and safety in this world, must have had 
some strong evidence to convince, them that it 
was true. It is not merely from the Christian 


writers of the New Testament that we learn how © 


much. those persons had to bear and to do who 
embraced the Gospel. We may be sure, even 
from the very nature of the case, how great their 
difficulties must have been. And therefore we 
could feel no doubt, that when they did become 
Christians, it must have been on some strong 
reasons, even though we had no knowledge what 
these reasons were. 

It is possible for us, however, to inquire, and 
to learn, what the reasons were which satisfied 
them of the truth of the religion. And it must, 
therefore, be a duty for all who have the oppor- 
tunity, to Jearn what proofs it rests on; that they 
may be ‘‘ ready to give an answer to those that 
ask them a reason of their hope.” And you 
should observe also, that the Apostles not only 
required their converts to be ready to give a rea- 
son, but must themselves have supplied them 
with reasons; since they could not have made 
them converts, without offering proofs to satisfy 
them that the religion was true. 

Aud this is one poiut which distinguishes the 


IT.] FAITH AND CREDULITY. . 19 


Christian religion from those of the Pagans; for 
it does not appear that any of these religions 
ever made any appeal to proof, or claimed to be 
received except from their being the ancient 
established belief of the country. ' The Christian 
religion was brought in, in opposition to all 
these, by means of the reasons given—the evi- 
dence, which convinced the early Christians that 
the religion did truly come from God. It must 
therefore be the duty of Christians to learn what 
that evidence is. 


LESSON IL. 
FAITH AND CREDULITY. 


§ 1. Our forefathers, and the other Pagans 
who embraced the Gospel, must have had some 
strong reasons, (as was remarked before) to 
bring them to shake off their habits of life, and 
their early prejudices, and their veneration for 
the gods they had been brought up to worship, 
for the sake of Christ and his religion, which 
were new to them. But perhaps you may sup- 
pose that their ancient religions also must have 
been embraced by their forefathers in the same 
manner; 2. €. that the worship of the Sun, and 
Moon, and Jupiter, and the rest of their gods, 
must have been first brought in by strong proofs, 
—at least by what were thought to be strong 
proofs, 

But this does not appear to have been the 


oe 


sa 
20 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [Lesson 


case. We have no accounts of the first origin 
of the Pagan religions; and it is likely that no 
one of them was ever brought in all at. once; but 
that these various superstitions crept in by little 
and little, and religion became gradually cor- 
rupted, as men lost more and more that know- 
ledge of the one true God, which we suppose to 
have been originally revealed. This, at least, is 
certain, that it was not even pretended that these 
religions rested on any evidence worth listening 
to. A Pagan’s reason for holding his religion 
is, and always was, that it had been handed down 
from his. ancestors. They did, indeed, relate 
many miracles, said to have been wrought through 
their gods; but almost all of these they spoke of 
as having been wrought among people who were 
already worshipers of those gods; not as hav- 
ing been the means of originally bringing in the 
religion. And all the Pagan miracles they be- 
lieved merely because these were a part of the 
religion which they had learned from their fathers. 
They never even pretended to give any proof that 
these miracles had ever been performed. 

§ 2. The pretended prophet Mohammed did 
indeed, found a new religion, which spread very 
rapidly and widely under him and his followers. 
But his religion was propagated, not by evidence, 
but by the sword. At the head of a small num- 
ber of valiant warriors, he gained victories, which 
euabled him and his successors to collect larger 
and larger armies, and with these they subdued 
extensive regions, forcing the conquered people 
everywhere to acknowledge the Mohammedan 


a 


td i FAITH AND CREDULITY. 21 


faith, on pain of death or bondage. But the 
Mohammedan religion never made way (as Chris- 
tianity did) in any country in which its opponents 
had the chief power, and were disposed to resist. 
And Mohammed never pretended to perform any 
miracles as signs of his coming from God. His 
pretended visions, and ascent to heaven, and 
visits from angels, which he relates in the book 
called the Koran, Were not even pretended to 
have been shown openly, as proofs to convince 
unbelievers, but were to be received by the be- 
lievers in Mohammed, on his bare word. With 
the Mohammedans in short, (as with the Pagans, ) 
the religion did not rest on the miracles, but the 
miracles rested on the religion. Those who be- 
lieved the religion, believed the miracles as a 
part of the religion, but not as a proof of it. In 
fact, no such proof was ever even attempted to 
be offered, of these religions. . 

_ The Christian religion was distinguished from 
these (as has been. said) by its resting on evi- 
dence ;—by its offering a reason,—and requiring 
Christians. to be able to give a reason, for beliey- 
ing it. 

§ 3. Some persons, however, have a notion 
that it is presumptuous for a Christian,—at least 
for an unlearned Christian,—to seek any proof of 
the truth of his religion. They suppose that this 
would show a want of faith. They know that 
faith is often and highly commended in Scripture, 
as the Christian’s first duty; and they fancy that 
this faith consists in a person’s readily and firmly 
believing what is told him, and trusting in every 


% ’ al . 
ee | 
92 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [LESSON | 
We? ha ; = ‘es 
promise that is made to him; and that the less 4 


reason he has for believing and for trusting, and 
the less he doubts, and inquires, and seeks for 
grounds for his belief and bis confidence, the 
more faith he shows. | ‘i . 
But this is quite a mistake. The faith which 
the Christian Scriptures speak of and commend, 
is the very contrary of that blind sort of belief 
and trust which does not rest on any good reason. 
This last is more properly called credulity than - 
faith, When a man_believes without. evidence 
or against evidence, he is what we rightly call 
credulous; but he is never commended for this: 
on the contrary, we often find, in Scripture, men- — 
tion made of persons who are reproached for their _ 
unbelief or want of faith, precisely on account of 
their showing this kind of eredulity: that is, not 
judging fairly according to the evidence, but re- 
solving to believe only what was agreeable to ~ 
their prejudices, and to trust any one who flat- 
tered those prejudices. on. 7 
§ 4. This was the case with those of the an- 
cient Heathen who refused to forsake the worship 
of the Sun and Moon and of Jupiter and Diana, 
and their other gods. Many of the Hphesians 
(as you read in the book of Acts) raised a tumult 
against Paul, in their zeal for their “ goddess 
Diana, and the image which fell down from Jupi- 
ter.”* Now if a man’s faith is to be reckoned 
the greater, the less evidence he has for believing, 
these men must have had greater faith than any 


* Acts xix. 35. 
‘~s 


* 


« 
II.] | —s- FAITH. AND "cREDULITY. 23 


~ -one who received the Gospel ; because they be- 
lieved in their religion without any evidence at 
all. 

.. But what our sacred writers mean by faith is 

quite different from this. When they commend 

E a@ man’s faith, it is because he listens fairly to 

evidence, and judges according to the reasons 

laid before him. The difficulty, and the virtue, 

of faith, consists in a man’s believing and trust- 

Ing, not against evidence, but against his ex- 

pectations and prejudices,—against his inclina= 

. tions, and passions, and interests. We read, ac- 

» © cordingly, that Jesus offered sufficient proof of 

» his coming from God;—He said, the works 

(a. e. the miracles) that I do in my Father’s 

“name, (v. e. by my Father’s authority,) they bear 

witness. of me. If you believe*not me, believe 

the works; that is, if you have not the heart to 

_ feel the purity and holiness of what I teach, at 

least you should allow, that “no man can do 
such miracles, except God be with him.” 

§ 5. But we are told, that “for all He had 
done so many miracles among them, yet did they 
hot believe on Him.” They acknowledged that 
he wrought miracles; as the unbelieving Jews 
acknowledge at the present day. But they had 
expected that the Christ [or Messiah] whom they 
looked for, should come in great worldly power 
and splendor as a conquering prince who should 
deliver them from the dominion of the Romans, 
and should make Jerusalem the capital of a mag- 
nificent empire. They were disappointed and 
disgusted, (‘‘ offended” is the word used in our 


aha 


we 
* 


24 | CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


translations,) at finding Jesus coming from Na- 
zareth, a despised town in Galilee, and having 
no worldly pomp or pretensions about Him, and 


having only poor fishermen and peasants as his 
3 


attendants. Accordingly they rejected Him, say- 
ing, “Shall [the] Christ come out of Nazareth 2” 
‘Ag for this man, we know not whence he is.” 
“ Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.” And they 
persuaded themselves, (as their descendants do 
to this day,) that Jesus was a skillful magician, 
aul performed miracles, not by Divine power, but 


- by the help of some evil spirits or demons, with 


whom He had allied Himself. ‘Though He went 
about doing wood, healing the sick and afilicted, © 
and teaching the purest morality, they reckoned 
him a “ deceiver,” who “cast out.demons, through 
Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.” i 2 

But if He had come among them offering to 
fulfill their expectations, and undertaking to deli- 
ver their country from the Romans, then, even 
though He had shown no miraculous power, 
many of them would have received Him readily. 
And indeed it is recorded of Him, that He 
declared this Himself, and foretold to his disci- 
ples, ‘;many will come in my name,” (that is, 
taking on them my character,) ‘‘saying, I am 
[the] Christ, and will deceive many.” And 
again, “I am come in my Father’s name,” (that 
is, with my Father’s authority and power,) “and 
you receive me not; if another shall come in his 
own name,” (that is, requiring to be believed on 
his bare word, without any miraculous signs,) 
‘‘him ye will receive.” 


II.]  .  —s- FAITH AND CREDUIITY. 25 


§ 6. And so it came to pass: for in the last 
siege of Jerusalem many impostors came forward, 
each one claiming to be the Christ, and drawing 


multitudes to follow him, and leading them to » 
make the most desperate resistance to the Ro- 


mans; till at length the city was taken and the 
nation utterly overthrown. 

Now the Jews who believed any one of these 
impostors, were led to do so by their prejudices, 
and expectations, and wishes, not by any proof 
that was offered. They showed, therefore, more 


credulity than the Christians did. And these — 


unbelieving Jews, as they are called, are the very 
persons who were reproached for their want of 


faith. You may plainly see from this, that the 


faith which the Christian writers speak of, is not 
blind credulity, but fairness in listening to evi- 
dence, and judging accordingly, without being 
led away by prejudices and indlinatione. 

Moreover we find in the book of Acts that the 
Jews of Beraa were commended as being “ more 
noble” (that is, more candid) than those of Thes- 
salonica, “ because they searched the Scriptures,” 
(the books of the Old Testament,) to see “ whe- 
ther those things were so,” which the Apostles 
taught. 

lt is plain, therefore, that Jesus and his Apos- 
tles did not mean by Christian faith a blind as- 
sent without any reason. And if we would be 
taught by them we must be “ prepared to answer 
every one that asketh us a reason of the hope 
that is in us.” 

3 


™ 


-# 


26 ‘CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. = [LESSON 


- 


LESSON III. 
ANCIENT BOOKS. 


§ 1. You have been taught that Christians,— 
even those who have not received what is called 
a learned education,—ought to have some good 
reason for being Christians; and not to believe 
in our religion, as the Pagans do in theirs, merely 
because their fathers did so before them. But 
some persons suppose that, however strong the 
evidences may be for the truth of Christianity, 
these must be evidences only to the learned, who 
are able to examine ancient books, and to read 
them in the original languages; and that an ordi- 
nary unlearned Christian must take their word 
for what they tell him. 

You do, indeed, read in English the accounts 
of what Jesus and his Apostles said and did, and 
of what befell them. But the English book 
which we call the Bible professes to be a trans- 
lation of what was originally written in Greek 
and Hebrew, which you do not understand. And 
some one may perhaps ask you, how you can 
know, except by taking the word of the learned 
for it, that there ave these Greek and Hebrew 
originals which have been handed down trom 
ancient times? or how you can be sure that our 
trauslations of them are faithful, except by trust- 
ing to the translators? So that an unlearned 
Curistian must, after all, (some people will tell 


¥ 
TIT. ] ANCIENT BOOKS. 27 


you,) be at the mercy of the learned, in what re- 
lates to the very foundations of his faith, He must 
take their word (it will be said) for the very ex- 
istence of the Bible in the original languages, and 
for the meaning of what is written. in it; and, 
therefore, he may as well at once take their word 
for every thing, and believe in his religion on their 
assurance, — 

And this is what many persons do. But others 
will be apt to say, “How can we tell that, the 
learned have not deceived us? The Mohamme- 
dans take the word of the learned men among 
them; and the Pagans do the same; and if the 
people have been imposed upon by their teachers 
in Mohammedan and Pagan countries, how can 
we tell that it is not the same in Christian coun- 
tries? What ground. have we for trusting with 
such perfect confidence in our Christian teachers, 
that they are men who would not deceive us 2”? 

§ 2. The truth is, however, that an unlearned 
Christian may have very good grounds for being 
a believer, without placing this entire confidence 
in anyman. He may have reason to believe that 
there are ancient Greek manuscripts of the New 
Testament, though he never saw one, nor could 
read it if he did. And he may be convinced that 
an English Bible gives the meaning of the ori- 
ginal, though he must not trust completely to any 
one’s word. In fact, he may have the same sort 
of evidence in this case, which every One trusts to 
in many other cases, where none but a madman 
would have any doubt at all, 

For instance, there is no one tolerably edu- 


* 


28 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


cated, who does not know that there is such a 
country as France, though he may have never 
been there himself. Who is there that doubts 
whether there are such cities as London, and 
Paris, and Rome, though he may never have 
visited them? Most people are fully convinced 
that the world is round, though there are but few 
who have sailed round it. There are many per- 
sons living in the inland parts of these islands 
who never saw the sea; and yet none of them, 
even the most ignorant clowns, have any doubt 
that there is such a thing as the sea. We believe 
all these and many other such things, because we 
have been told them. 

§ 8. Now suppose any one should say, ‘‘ How 
do you know that travelers have not imposed upon 
you in all these matters: as it is well known tra- 
velers are apt to do? Is there any traveler you 
can so fully trust in, as to be quite sure he would 
not deceive you! 2” What would you answer ? 
I suppose you would say, one traveler might per-- 
haps deceive us; or even two or three might pos- 
sibly combine to propagate a false story, in some 
cases where hardly any one would have the oppor- 
tunity to detect them; but in these matters there 
are hundreds and thousands who would be sure 
to contradict the accounts if they were not true ; 
and travelers are often glad of an opportunity of 
detecting each other’s mistakes. Many of them 
disagree with each other in several particulars 
respecting the cities of Paris and Rome; and if 
it had been false that there are any such cities at 
all, it is impossible but that the falsehood should 


III. ] ANCIENT BOOKS. 29 


have been speedily contradicted. And it is the 
same with the existence of the sea,—the round- 
ness of the world,—and the other things that 
were mentioned. 

§ 4. It isin the same manner that we believe, 
on the word of astronomers, that the earth turns 
round every twenty-four hours, though we are 
insensible of the motion; and that the sun, which 
seems as if you could cover it with your hat, is 
immensely larger than the earth we inhabit ; 
though there is not one person in ten thousand 
that has ever gone through the mathematical 
proof of this. And yet we have very good rea- 
son for believing it; not from any strong con- 
fidence in the honesty of any particular astrono- 
mer, but because the same things are attested by 
many different astronomers; who are so far from 
combining together in a false account, that many 
of them rejoice in any opportunity of detecting 
each other’s mistakes. 

Now an unlearned man has just the same sort 
of reason for believing that there are ancient 
copies, in Hebrew and Greek, of the Christian 
sacred books, and of the works of other ancient 
authors, who mention some things connected 
with the origin of Christianity. There is no 
need for him to place full confidence in any par-., 
ticular man’s honesty. For if any book were 
forged by some learned man in these days, and 
put forth as a translation from an ancient book, 
there are many other learned men, of this and of 
various other countries, and of different religions, 
who would be eager to make an inquiry, and 

3x 


30 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


examine the question, and would be sure to 
detect any forgery, especially on an important 
subject. 

And it is the same with translators. Many 
of these are at variance with each other as to the 
precise sense of some particular passage; and 
many of them are very much opposed to each 
other, as to the doctrines which they believe to 
be taught in Scripture. But all the different 
versions of the Bible agree as to the main outline 
of the history, and of the discourses recorded : 
and therefore an unlearned Christian may be as 
sure of the general sense of the original as if he 
understood the language of it, and could examine 
it for himself; because he is sure that unbelievers, 
who are opposed to all Christians, or different 
sects of Christians, who are opposed to each 
other, would not fail to point out any errors in 
the translations made by their opponents. Scho- 
lars have an opportunity to examine and inquire 
into the meaning of the original works; and 
therefore the very bitterness with which they dis- 
pute against each other, proves that where they 
all agree they must be right. 

§ 5. All these ancient books, in short, and all 
the translations of them, are in the condition of 
witnesses placed in a witness-box, in a court of 
justice ; examined and cross-examined by friends 
and enemies, and brought face to face with each 
other, so as to make it certain that any falsehood 
or mistake will be brought to light. 

No one need doubt, therefore, that the bookg 
of our English New Testament are really trans- 


IV.] PROPHECIES. 31 


lated from ancient originals in Greek, and are, 
at least, not forgeries of the present day; be- 
cause unbelievers in. Christianity would not have 
failed to expose such a forgery. 

But in the case of the books of the Old Testa- 
ment, we have a remarkable proof that they could 
never have been forged by Christians at all; be- 
cause they are preserved and highly reverenced 
by the unbelieving Jews in various parts of the 
world at this day. These are the Scriptures . 
which the Jews at Berea were commended for 
Searching with diligent care. In these they found 
the prophecies to which the Apostles were accus- 
tomed to refer, as proving that Jesus was the 
promised Christ, or Messiah. And the history 
goes on to relate, that the consequence of their 
searching those Scriptures, was, that ‘“ many of 
them believed.” ae 


a) 


LESSON Iv. 
PROPHECIES. 


§ 1. Bur these Old Testament Scriptures are, 
in some respects, more instructive to ws, even 
than to the persons who lived in the Apostles’ 
time ; on account of the more complete fulfillment 
of some of the prophecies that have since taken 
place. 

In the times of the Apostles, the religion of 
Jesus Christ was, indeed, spreading very rapidly, 
both among Jews and Gentiles; but still it was 


32 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


but a small and obscure portion of either that 
had embraced it, compared with those who either 
knew nothing of it, or rejected it with scorn and 
hatred. Now, Jesus is, and has been for many 
ages, acknowledged as Lord, in all the most 
civilized portions of the world. His disciples 
overthrew the religions of all the most powerful 
and enlightened nations, and produced, without 
conquest, and without the help of wealth, or of 
human power, or learning, the most wonderful 
change that ever was produced in men’s opinions, 
and on the most important point. The number 
of those who profess. Christianity is computed at 
about two hundred and fifty millions; compre- 
hending all the most civilized nations of the 
world. And to estimate properly the greatness 
of the effect produced, we should take into ac- 
count that there are about one hundred and 
twenty millions of persons whose religion is so 
far founded on Christ’s, that it could never have 
existed, such as it is, if Christ had never ap- 
peared,—I mean the Mohammedans ; for though 
these have departed widely from the religion which 
Jesus taught, and regard Mohammed as a greater 
prophet than He, yet they acknowledge Jesus as 
a true prophet, and as the Messiah, or Christ ; 
and profess that their religion is founded on 
his. 

§ 2. This should be taken into, account; be- 
cause what we are now speaking of is the great 
and wonderful effect produced,—the extraordi- 
nary change brought about in the world,—by 
Christ and his Apostles. So great is this effect, 


I¥3]s5.7 PROPHECIES. 33 


that every man, whether believer or unbeliever, 
if not totally ignorant of history,must allow that 
Jesus Christ was by far THE MOST IMPORTANT 
AND EXTRAORDINARY PERSON that ever appeared 
on earth; and that he effected the most wonder- 
ful revolution that ever was effected in the reli- 
gion of mankind. Yet this wonderful change 
was made by a person of the Jewish nation,—a 
nation which was never one of the greatest and 
most powerful,—never at all equal in the fame of 
wisdom, and knowledge, and skill in the arts of 
life, to the Greeks and several other of the ancient 
nations. And all this was done by a person who 
was despised, and persecuted, and put to a shame- 
ful death, by the Jews themselves, his own coun- 
trymen. If, therefore, you were to ask any unbe- 
liever in Christianity, ‘Who was the most won- 
derful person that ever existed? and who brought 
about the most extraordinary effect, in the stran- 
gest and most wonderful manner?” he could 
hardly help answering that Jesus of Bazpreth 
was the person. 

And then you might ask him to expla how 
it happened (supposing our religion to be an 
invention of man) that all this had been foretold 
in the ancient prophecies of the Old Testament ; 
in books which are carefully preserved, and held 
in high reverence, by the unbelieving Jews at 
this day. 

§ 3. You may find such prophecies as I am 
speaking of, in various parts of the Old Testa- 
ment. As, ‘for instance, it was prophesied that 
a great blessing to all nations of the earth should 


34 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


spring from the nation that was to descend from 
Abraham. (Gen. xxii. 18.) 

Now, when the descendants of Abraham did 
actually become a nation, and did receive, through 
Moses, a religion which they held in the highest 
veneration, they would naturally expect the above 
prophecy to refer to the extension of that very 
religion. And any one of them professing to be 
a prophet, but speaking really as a mere man, 
would have been sure to confirm that expecta- 
tion. Yet it was foretold, that the religion which 
the Israelites had received from Moses, was to 
give place to a new one: as in Jer. xxxi. 31: 
‘Behold the days come [are coming], saith the 
Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 
not according to the covenant that I made with 
their fathers,” &e. 

You may find other prophecies to the same 
effect in Jer. xxxii. 40, and xxxiii. 14: Ezek. 
XxxXvil. 26; Micah iv. 1. 

It was prophesied, likewise, that it was not to 
be by the whole Jewish nation that these great 
effects were to be produced, but by one particular 
person of that nation; and, what is still more 
remarkable, that this one promised Saviour was 
to be ‘ despised and rejected” by his own people; 
as you may read in Isaiah lii. and liii. And yet 
that He was (though put to death by them) to 
establish a great and extensive kingdom. For 
prophecies of these several points, see Isaiah ix. 
6; xi.1; Ezekiel xxxiv. 23. 

Now many of these prophecies were delivered 


Wi ear _ PROPHECIES. 35 


(as the unbelieving Jews of this day bear witness) 
six hundred years before the birth of Jesus: at 
which time, and also at the time when the Gospel 
was first preached, the Jews were so far from be- 
ing a great and powerful people, that they had 
been conquered and brought into subjection by 
other nations. So that, according to all human 
conjecture, nothing could have been more strange, 
then the delivery of these prophecies and their 
fulfillment. : 

§ 6. And the proof from these prophecies is 
made very much the stronger by the number of 
distinct particulars which they mention; some 
of them seeming, at first sight, at variance with 
each other; but all of them agreeing with what 
has really taken place. Such a prophecy is like 
a complicated Jock, with many and _ intricate 
wards, when you have found a key that opens it. 
An ordinary simple lock may be fitted by several 
different keys, that were not made for it ; just as 
a loose general kind of prediction—of the comnig 
of some great conqueror or the like,—may have 
been made by guess; and may be found to agree 
with several different. events. But the more nu- 
merous and complicated are the wards of a lock, 
the more certain you are that a key which exactly 
fits it must be the right key; and that one of 
them, the key or the lock, must have been made 
for the other. And so it is with prophecies that 
contain many, distinct, and seemingly opposite 
particulars, when we see the event fulfilling all 
those particulars. 

—§ 9. This fulfillment, by the wide spread of 


« 


> P 


36 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. _ [Lasson 


Christ’s religion among various nations, though 
it was expected by the early Christians, had not 
been seen by them, as it is by us. They saw, 
however, that what Jesus had done and suffered 
did agree with the prophecies of the Old Testa-— 
ment: that He was born at the time when it had 
been foretold that Christ was to come, and when 
the whole Jewish nation were in expectation of 
his coming :—that He was acknowledged by his 
enemies to have wrought those miracles which 
had been prophesied of: “Then the eyes of the 
blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf 
shall be unstopped: then shall the lame man leap 


‘as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing,” 


(Isaiah xxxv. 5; Luke vii. 22;) that, notwith- 
standing this, He had been rejected and put to 
death, as had been foretold; and that his disci- 
ples bore witness to his having risen from the 
dead, agreeably to other prophecies: “ Thou wilt 
not leave my soul in hell (¢. e. the grave); neither 
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption,” 
(Psalm xvi. 10; Acts ii. 27.) 

All this led them to conclude, when they 
examined candidly, that the miracles which they 
saw, were not the work of evil spirits, but that 
the Gospel did come from God. On the other 
hand, we, who have not actually seen the miracles 
which they saw, have an advantage over them in 
seeing such-an extraordinary fulfillment of pro- 
phecy, in what has happened since their time. 


"' 
3 


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- 


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V.J: 4% Mrracuzs. -pdpr i 37 
- 
LESSON V. 


MIRACLES. PART I. 


§ 1. THE people who lived in the times of the 
Apostles, though they had not seen so much as 
we have of the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies, 
yet had seen them so far fulfilled in Jesus, as to 
afford good reasons for receiving Him. 

But you may, perhaps, be inclined to wonder 
how they should need to search the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures for a confirmation of what the 
Apostles taught, if those Apostles really per- 
formed such miracles as we read of. It may 
seem strange to you, that men who healed the 
sick with a touch, and displayed so many other 
signs, far beyond human power, should not: have 
been at once believed, when they called themselves 
God’s messengers. Mey 

§ 2. I have said that the works performed by 
Jesus and his disciples were beyond the unassisted 
powers of man. And this, I think, is the best 
description of what is meant by a miracle. Super- 
human would perhaps be a better word to apply 
to a miracle than supernatural; for if we believe 
that “nature” is merely another word to signify 
that state of things, and course of events, which 
God has appointed, nothing that occurs can be 
srtictly called ‘‘supernatural.” Jesus himself ac- 
cordingly describes his works, not as violations 
of the laws of nature, but as “ works which none 

4 


mS 


38 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


other man did.” But what isin general meant by 
‘ supernatural,”’ is, something out of the ordinary 
course of nature; something at varianee with 
those laws of nature which we have been accus- 
tomed to, 

But then it might be objected that we cannot 
decide what does violate the ordinary laws of 
nature, unless we can be sure that we are acquain- 
ted with all those laws. For instance, an inhabi- 
tant of the tropical climates might think it con- 
trary to the laws of nature that water should ever 
become hard; since he had never seen ice. And 
when electricity was first discovered, many of its 
effects were contrary to the laws of nature which 
had been hitherto known. But any one who 
visits colder regions may see with his own eyes 
that water does become solid. And any one who 
will procure an electrical machine, or who attends 
lectutes on the subject, may see for himself the 
effects of electricity. . 

Now suppose Jesus had been a person who had 
discovered some new natural agent through which 
any man might be enabled to cure diseases by a 
touch, and perform the other wonderful works 
which'He did, and through which any one else 
might have done the like, this would soon have 
become known and practised by all; just like the 
use of electricity, or of any newly-discovered medi- 
cine ;-and from his time down to this day every 
one would have commonly performed just the 
same works that He did. He might indeed have 
kept it to himself as a secret, and thus have in- 
duced some to believe that he wrought miracles 


evi MIRACLES. PART I. 39 


ww 


But so far from acting thus, He imparted his 
power first to the twelve Apostles, and afterwards 
to seventy others: and after his departure, his 
Apostles received the power of not only perform- 
ing mighty works themselves, but also of bestow- 
ing these gifts on all the disciples on whom they 
laid their hands; as you may see from Acts viii. 
14—23; Acts xix. 6; Rom. i. 11; 1 Cor. xii. 7 
—l11, &c. There must have been, therefore, in 
the early Church many hundreds, and probably 
many thousands, performing the same sort of 
work as Jesus and his Apostles. And if, there- 
fore, these had been performed by means of any 
natural agent, such as any one else might use as 
well as they, the art would soon have been uni- 
versally known; and the works performed by the 
disciples of Jesus would have been commonly per- 
formed by all men ever after, down to this day. 

But the Jews were conyinced, with good reason, 
that the works of Jesus were beyond the powers 
of unassisted man. And it may seem strange to 
us that they did not all come at once to the same 
conclusion with Nicodemus, when he said, ‘‘ No 
man can do these miracles which thou doest 
except God be with him.” _ 

But you must remember how much the people 
of those days were accustomed to believe in magic. 
Indeed, in much later times, long after Christi- 
anity prevailed, it was a very common notion that 
there were magicians who were able through the 
help of evil demons, to work various miracles. 
And in the days of the apostles this belief in the 
power of magic was very general, both among 


ee 


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.: 
>: - f 
40 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. — [LESSON 
bs * 
the Jews and the Heathen. Those Jews among . 
whom Jesus lived, and who rejected Him, main- 
tained that he was a magician, who did mighty 
works through the prince of. demons. This is not 
only related by the Christian writers in the New 
Testament, but is a common tradition among the 
unbelieving Jews at this very day; who have 
among them an ancient book, giving this account 
of the origin of Christianity. And there can be 
no doubt that this must have been (as our sacred 
writers tell us it was) what the adversaries of 
Jesus maintained from the first. For if those 
who lived on the spot in his time, had denied or 
doubted the facts of the miracles, and had declared 
that the accounts of them were false tales, and 
that no miracles had ever really been wrought, 
we may be sure that the same would have been 
said ever after by their defendants. They would 
never have thought of rejecting the accounts given 
by their own ancestors, and preferring that of the 
Christian writers: If, therefore, any of the Jews 
among whom Jesus lived, had denied the fact of 
his miraculous powers, it is inconceivable that 
another generation of Jews should have betaken 
themselves to the pretence of magic, to account 
for miracles which had never been “acknowledged 


_at the time, but had been reckoned impostures 


by the very people among whom they” were said 
to have been performed. 

The Pagan adversaries of Christianity also 
seem to have had the same persuasion on this 
subject as the Jews, and to have attributed the 
Christian, miracles to magical art. We learn this 


V.] MIRACLES. PART I. 41 
4 

from all the remains that have come down to us, 

of the ancient writings against Christianity, and 

of the answers to them written by Christians. 

§ 8. Now suppose that in the present day any 
one should appear, professing to be sent from God, 
and to work, miracles-as a sign of his being so 
sent; you would naturally think that the only 
question would be as to the reality of the mira- 
cles; and that all men would at once believe him, 
as soon as ever they were satisfied that he had per- 
formed something clearly beyond human power. 
But men certainly did not judge so in ancient times. 
It was not then, only one question, but two, that 
had to be settled: first, whether any sign had 
been displayed which showed a power beyond 
that of man; and secondly, whether this super- 
natural power came from God, or from an. evil 
demon. 

Now, after the former of these questions was 
decided, that is, after the fact of the miracles was 
admitted, the Jews were inclined still to doubt or 
disbelieve the religion which Jesus taught, be- 
cause it was so different from what they had been 
used to expect; and hence it was, that the greater 
part of them attributed his miracles to magic. 
But others were of a more candid mind, (‘‘ more 
noble,” as it is in our translation,) such as the 
people of Berea. These, by carefully searching 
the Sciptures, satisfied themselves that the ancient 
prophecies respecting the Christ, did really agree 
with all that Jesus had done and suffered. And 
this it was that convinced them that his miracles 
were wrought not by evil spirits, but, by the 

4 it. 


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7 
42 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [Lusson 
2 ts Kae TE ee i 


Divine power ; and thus they were brought to the 
conclusion that the ‘‘kingdom of heaven was at 
hand.” at 

§ 4. If, then, any one should say to you, ‘‘ How 
great an advantage the people who lived in those 
days, and saw miracles performed before their 
eyes, must have had over us, who only read of 
them in ancient books ; and how can men in these 
days be expected to believe as firmly as they did?” 
—you may answer, that different men’s trials and 
advantages are pretty nearly balanced. The peo- 
ple who lived in those times were not (any more 
than ourselves) forced into belief whether they 
would or no; but were left to exercise candor in 
judging fairly from the evidence before them. 


_Those of them who were resolved to yield to their 
“prejudices against Jesus, and to reject Him, found 


a ready excuse (an excuse which would not be 
listened to now), by attributing his miracles to 
the magical arts which in those days were com- 
monly believed in. And again, though they saw 
many miracles which we only read of, they did 
not see that great miracle (as it may be called) 
which is before our eyes, in the fulfillment of pro- 
phecy since their time. They could see, indeed, 
many prophecies fulfilled in Jesus; but we have 
an advantage over them in witnessing the more 


complete fulfillment of the prophecies respecting 


the wonderful spread of his religion. 


rn 


VJ MIRACHBS, PART Th 43 


‘“. , 


LESSON VI. 
MIRACLES. PART II. 


$1. “Bur can we of these days really find 
sufficient proof,” (some one may say,) ‘and such 
proof as is within the reach of ordinary Christians 
for believing that miracles really were performed, 


which we never saw, but which are recorded in 


books as having happened nearly 1800 years 
avo?” Is it not expecting a great deal of us, to 
require us to believe that there were persons who 
used to cure blindness and other diseases, by a 
touch or a word, and raise the dead, and still the 


raging of the sea, and feed a multitude with a few 


4 


loaves ? ; 

Certainly these things are in themselves hard 
to be believed; and if we were to find in some 
ancient books accounts of some great wonders 


_ which led to no effects that exist at this day, and 


had nothing to do with the present state of things 
among us, we might well be excused for doubting 


a 


or disbelieving such accounts; or, at least, none || 


but learned men who had the ability and the ~ 


opportunity to make full inquiry into the evidence 


of such a book, could fairly be expected to trouble © 


themselves about the question. But. the case of 


the Christian miracles is not one of this kind. ~ 


They are closely connected with something which 
we do see before us at this day ; namely, with the 
existence of the Christian religion in so great a 


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44.. . CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


part of the world. A man cannot, indeed, be 
fairly required to believe any thing very strange 
and unlikely, except when there is something still 
more strange and unlikely on the opposite side. 
Now that is just the case with respect to the 
Christian miracles; for, wonderful as the whole 
Gospel history is, the most wonderful thing of all 
is, that a Jewish peasant should have succeeded 
in changing the religion of the world. That He . 
should have succeeded in doing this without dis- 
playing any miracles, would have been more won- 
derful than all the miracles that are recorded ; and 
that he should have accomplished all this by means 
of pretended miracles, when none were really per- 
formed, would be the most incredible of all. So 
that those who are unwilling to believe any thing. 
that is strange, cannot escape doing so by disbe- 
lieving the Gospel; but will have to believe some- 
thing still more strange, if they reject the Gospel. 
§ 2. And it is the same in, many other cases, as 
well as in what relates to religion. We are often 
obliged to believe, at any rate, in something that 
is very wonderful, in order to avoid believing 
something else that is still more wonderful. For 
instance, it is well known that in these islands, and 
in several other parts of the world, there are 
great beds of sea-shells found near the tops of 
hills, sometimes several thousand feet above the 
sea. Now it is certainly very hard to believe that 
the sea should ever have covered those places 
- which now lie so far above it. And yet we are 
compelled to believe this; because we cannot 
think of any other way that is not far more ins 


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a : * 
Re fie , 
VI.J MIRACLES. PART II. 45 
credible, by which those shells have been depo- 
sited there. * 
And so it is with the Gospel history. We are 
sure that the Christian religion does now exist, 
and has overspread most of the civilized world ; 
and we know that it was not first introduced and 
propagated (like that of Mohammed) by force 
of arms. To believe that it was received, and 
made its way without miracles, would be to be- 
lieve something more miraculous (if one may so 
speak) than all the miracles that our books re- 
cord. 4 
§ 3. But some people may say that the ancient 
Jews and Pagans, who so readily believed in 
magical arts, and the power of demons, must have 
been very weak and credulous men; and that, 
therefore, they may have given credit to tales of 
miracles without making any careful inquiry. 
Now there is, indeed, no doubt that they were 
weak and credulous; but this weakness and cre- 
dulity would never have led them to believe what 
was against their early prejudices, and expecta- 
tions, and wishes: quite the contrary. The more 
weak and credulous any man is, the harder it is 
to convinee him of any thing that is opposite to 
his habits of thought and inclinations. He will 
readily receive without proof any thing that falls 
in with his prejudices; and will be disposed to 
hold out against any evidence that goes against 
them. 
Now all the prejudices of the Jews and Pagans 
were against the religion that Jesus and his Apos- 
~ -tles taught ; and, accordingly, we might have ex-- 


a 


46. CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 
pected that the most credulous of them should 
have done just what our histories tell us they did ; 
that is, resolved to reject the religion at any rate, 
and readily satisfy themselves with some weak and 
absurd way of accounting for the miracles. But, 
credulous as they were about magic, the enemies 
of Jesus would never haye resorted to that pre- 
tence, if they could have denied the facts.. They 
would certainly have been more ready to maintain, 
if possible, that no miracles had taken place, than 
to explain them as performed by magic; because 
this pretence only went to make out that Jesus, 
notwithstanding his miracles, mzght possibly not 
come from God; whereas, if they could have 
shown that He or his Apostles had attempted to 
deceive people by pretended miracles, this would 
at once have them held up to scorn as impostors. 

§ 4. We read in the Gospel of John (chap. 
ix.), that the Jewish rulers narrowly examined 
into the reality of a miracle performed by Jesus, 
on aman that was born blind. This is exactly 
what we may be sure must have been done in the 
case of other miracles also; and if the enemies of 
Jesus could have succeeded in detecting and ex- 


posing any falsehood or trick, they would have ~ 


been eager to do so; because they would have 


been thus sure to overthrow his pretensions at_ 


once. 

It is plain, therefore, that the weakness and 
credulity of the people of those days would be 
very far from disposing them readily to give 
credit to miracles, in favor of a religion that was 


opposed to their prejudices ; and that, on the con- 


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Wigs a A 
VII.] » MIRACLES. PART III. "44 


trary, such persons would be likely, some of them 
-. -obstinately, to reject the religion, and others, only 
gradually and slowly to receive it, after having 

* carefully searched the ancient prophecies, and 
found that these went to confirm it. Now this is 
just the account that our histories give. 

It appears certain, then, that the unbelieving 
Jews and Pagans of those days did find it impos- 
sible to throw any doubt on the fact of the mira- 
cles having really been performed; because that 
would have enabled them easily to expose Jesus 
to contempt as an impostor. Their acknowledg- 
ing the miracles, and attributing them to magic, 
as the unbelieving Jews do this day, shows that 
the evidence for them, after the strictest scrutiny 
by the most bitter enemies, was perfectly undeni- 
able, at the time and place when they were said 
| to be performed. 


ag 


oe 


LESSON VII. : 


: MIRACLES. PART III. 

§ 1. THERE are persons, some of whom you 
«may, perhaps, meet with, who, though they are be- 
lievers in Christianity, yet will not allow that the 
miracles recorded in Scripture are any ground 
for their belief. They are convinced (they will 
tell you) that Jesus Christ came from God, be- 
cause “never man spake like this man.” They 
find the religion so pure and aduirable in itself, 


48 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


and they feel it so well suited to their wants, and 
to the wants of all mankind, and so full of hea- 
venly wisdom and goodness, that they need no 
other proof of its being from heaven; but as for 
miracles, these (they will tell you) are among the 
difficulties to be got over: they believe them as 
a part of the religion, from finding them recorded 
in the Bible; but they would have believed the 
Gospel as easily, or more easily, without them. 
The miracles (they will say) were indeed a proof 
to those who lived at the time, and saw them ; 
but to us of the present day, who only read of 
them, they are a part of our faith, and not a part 
of the evidence of our faith. For it is a greater 
trial of faith, they say, to believe in such wonder- 
ful works as Jesus is said to have performed, than 
to believe that such wise and excellent doctrine 
as He delivered was truly from heaven. 

Now there is indeed much truth ina part of 
what these persons say; but they do not take a 
clear view of the whole subject of evidence. It 
is indeed true, that there is, as they observe, 
great weight in the internal evidence (as it is 
called) of Christianity; that is, the reasons for. 
believing it from the character of the religion» 
itself. The more you study it, the more strongly 
you will perceive that it is such a religion as no 
man would have been likely to invent; and of all 
men, a Jew most unlikely. But there are many 
different kinds of evidence for the same truth ; 
and one kind of evidence may the most: impress 
one man’s mind, and another another’s. And, 
among the rest, the Christian miracles certainly 


VII. ] MIRACLES. PART II. (49 


are a very decisive proof of the truth of Christ’s 
religion to any one, who is convinced (as you 
have seen there is reason to be) that they really 
were wrought. Of course, there is more difficulty 
for us in making out this point, than there was 
for men who lived at the same times and places 
with Jesus and his Apostles; but when this 
point has been made out and we do believe the 
miracles, they are no less a proof of the religion 
to us than to those early Christians. 

§ 2. It is quite a mistake to suppose that the 
difficulty of proving any fact makes that fact, 
when it zs proved, a less convincing proof of 
Something else. For example,—to take an in- 
stance formerly given,—those who live in the 
neighborhood of the places where great beds of 
sea-shells are found near the tops of hills, and 
have seen them there themselves, are convinced 
by this that at some time or other those beds 
must have been under the sea. Now a person 
who lives at a distance from such places, has 
more difficulty than those on the spot, in making 
out whether there are any such beds of shells. 
He has to inquire of travelers, or of those who 
have conversed with them; and to consult books, 
and perhaps examine pieces of the rock contain- 
ing some of the shells; but when once he is fully 
satisiied that there are such beds of sea-shells, 
this is just as good a proof to him as to the 
others, that the sea must have formerly covered 
them. 

And so also in respect of the Christian mira- 
cles. The difficulty we may have in deciding 

4) 


M4 


a 


, 50 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


- 
vhetaer they were really wrought, does not make 
them (when we are convinced that they were 
wrought) a less decisive proof that the Christian 
religion is from God. 

but as for the difficulty of believing in any thing 
so strange and wonderful as those miracles, you 
should remember that every difficulty (as was 
observed before) should be weighed against that 
on the opposite side. Now the difficulty of be- 
lieving the miracles recorded in our sacred books, 
is much less than the opposite difficulty of believ- 
ing that the Christian religion was established 
without miracles. That a Jewish peasant should 
have overthrown the religion of the civilized world 
without the aid of any miracles, is far more mira- 
culous,—at least more incredible,—than any thing 
that our books relate; and it will appear still 
more incredible, if you remember that this won- 
derful change was brought about by means of an 
appeal to miracles. Jesus and his Apostles did 
certainly profess to display miraculous powers in 
proof of their being sent from God; and this 
would lave been the greatest hinderance to their 
propagating a new religion, if they had really 
possessed no such powers; because this pretence 
would have laid them open to detéction and 
ridicule. 

- § 3. But there is a distinction between our 
religion and all others, which is often overlooked. 
Almost all religions have some miraculous pre- 
tensions connected with them; that is, miracles 
are recorded to have been wrought in support of 
some Pagan religion, among people who already 


VIiI.] MIRACLES. PART III. ' 51 
believed it. But you will not find that any reli- 
gion except ours was ever tntroduced,—and in- 
troduced among enemies, by miraculous preten- 
sions. Ours is the only faith that ever was 
FOUNDED on an appeal to the evidence of mira- 
cles. And we have every reason to believe, that 
no such attempt ever did or could succeed, if the 
miracles were not really performed. The diffi- 
culty, therefore, of believing that the Christian 
religion was propagated by means of miracles, is 
nothing in comparison of the difficulty of believ- 
ing that it could have been propagated without 
any. 

Indeed, we have every reason to believe that 


many more miracles must have been performed 


than are particularly related. Several particular 
cases, indeed, of our Lord’s miracles were de- 
scribed; but besides these we are told, in various 
places, of great multitudes of sick people being 
brought to him, and that ‘“ He healed them all.” 
(Matt. xii. 15; xix. 2.) So also, besides parti- 
cular miracles related as done by the Apostles, 
(Acts ii. 83; ili, 7; ix. 33; xiii, 11; xiv. 8; 

XXvilil. 5,) we are told, generally, of their not 
only performing many miracles, (Acts viii. 6; 

xix. 11,) but also bestowing miraculous powers 
on great numbers of disciples, (Acts vi. Seis, 
x. 44; xix. 6.) And we find St. Paul, in one 
of his Epistles, speaking of it as a thing familiarly 
known, that miracles were “the signs of an Apos- 
tle.” (2 Cor. xii. 12.) And in all these books, 
we find miracles not boastfully dwelt on, or de- 
scribed as something unusual; but alluded to, as 


ue 


52 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


familiarly known, to the persons to whom the 
books were familiarly addressed; that is, to the 
Christians of those days. 

§ 4. But besides the accounts given in the 
Christian Scriptures, we might be sure, from the 
very nature of the case, that the Apostles could 
never have even gained a hearing, at least among 
the Gentiles, if they had not displayed some 
extraordinary and supernatural power. Fancy a 
few poor Jewish fishermen, tent-makers, and pea- 
sants, going into one of the great Roman or 
Grecian cities, whose inhabitants were proud of 
the splendid temples, and beautiful images of 
their gods, which had been worshiped time out 
of mind by their ancestors; they were proud, too, 
of their schools of philosophy, where those re- 
puted the wisest men among them discoursed on 
the most curious and sublime subjects, to the 
youth of the noblest families; and then fancy 
these Jewish strangers telling them to cast away 
their images as an abominable folly,—to renounce 
the religion of their ancestors,—to reject with 
scorn the instructions of their philosophers,—and 
to receive instead, as a messenger from heaven, a 
Jew of humble station, who had been put to the 
- most shameful death. How do you think men 
would have been received, who should have made 
such an attempt as this, with merely such weak 
human means as preaching? You cannot doubt 
that all men would have scorned them, and ridi- 
culed or pitied them as madmen. 

§ 5. As for the wisdom, and purity and sub- 
limity of the religion of the Gospel, this might 


VIL] MIRACLES. PART II, 58 . 


have gained them some attention,—not indeed 
among the mass of the people, who were too 
gross to relish or perceive this purity and wis- 
dom, but among a very few of the better sort, if 
once they could be brought to listen to the descrip- 
tion of the religion. And this, perhaps, they 
might have done, if it had been taught by some 
Greek or Roman philosophers famous for know- 
ledge and wisdom. But the Gospel was preached 
by men of a nation which the Greeks and Romans 
looked down upon as barbarian; and whose reli- 
gion, especially, they scorned and detested for 
being so different from their own. And not only 
did the Apostles belong to this despised nation, 
but they were the outcasts of that very nation; 
being rejected and abhorred by the chief part of 
their Jewish brethren. 

If, therefore, they had come among the Gen- 
tiles, teaching the most sublime religious doc- 
trine, and trusting merely to the excellence of 
what they taught, it is impossible they should 
have even have had a hearing. It is not enough 
to say, that no one would have believed them; 
but no one would even have listened to them, if 
they had not first roused men’s serious attention _ 
by working (as we are told. they did) ‘“‘remarka- 
ble [special] miracles.” Acts xix. 11. 

§ 6. Afterwards, indeed, when the Gospel had 
spread so as to excite general attention, many 
men would be likely to listen to the preaching of 
it, even by persons who did not pretend to mira- 
culous power, but who merely bore witness to the 
miracles they had seen; giving proof at the same 

5* 


a aa ae 


54 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. _— [ LESSON 


time that they. were not false witnesses, by their 
firmness in facing persecution. And this was 
certainly a good ground for believing their testi- 
mony. For though men may be mistaken as to 
the opinions which they sincerely hold, they could 
not be mistaken as to such facts as the Christian 
miracles of which they professed themselves eye- 
witnesses; as the Apostles, for instance, were, of 
their Master’s resurrection. And it is not to be 
conceived that men would expose themselves to 
dangers, and tortures, and death, in attesting 
false stories, which they must have known to be 
false. If there had been any well-contrived im- 
posture in respect of pretended miracles, it is im- 
possible but that some persons, at least, out of 
the many hundreds brought forward as eye-wit- 
nesses, would have been induced by threats, tor- 
tures, or bribes, to betray the imposture. 

There were many, therefore, who received the 
Gospel,—and with good reason,—on such testi- 
mony as this, as soon as they could be brought 
to listen to and examine it. But, in the first in- 
stance, the Apostles could not have brought any 
of the Gentiles, at least, to listen to them, if they 
had not begun by working evident miracles them- 
selves. A handful of Jewish strangers, of hum- 
ble rank, would never have obtained a hearing 
among the most powerful, and most civilized, and 
proudest nations of the world, if they had not at 
first roused their attention by the display of some. 
extraordinary powers. 


— -™. 


VIII] "-WONDERS AND SIGNS, 55 


* 


LESSON VIII. 
WONDERS AND SIGNS. 


$1. Ir is plain, for the reasons which have 
been put before you, that the Apostles must have 
roused men’s attention, and gained themselves a 
hearing, by performing,—as our books tell us 
they did,—many wonderful works. And these 
works, as well as those of Jesus, which they re- 
lated, must have been such as to admit of no mis- 
take, either about the facts, or about their being 
really supernatural. Else, surrounded as they were 
by enemies, and with men’s prejudices opposed 
to them, it seems impossible they could bave been 
believed, or even attended to. If, for instance, 
there were a report of some sick men having been 
miraculously cured by them, but such a report as 
to leave a doubt either as to the fact of the cure 
having taken place, or as to the manner of the 
cure,—that is, whether the man might not have 
recovered by natural means,—any such doubt 
would have been enough to have shut men’s ears 
against them. 

And besides this, it was necessary that the 
miracles should be both so numerous, and so va- 
rious in kind, as to exceed the powers generally 
supposed to belong to magicians. For most 
persons seem to have thought that a magician 
might, through the aid of demons, be enabled to 
perform some miracles, and not others of a diffe- 


 s 


ee 


eal 
56 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


rent kind. We find it related accordingly, that 
Jesus not only healed the lame, and blind, and 
sick, some present and some absent, grown per- 
sons and children, but also raised the dead, 
fed a multitude with a few loaves, stilled the 
waves and winds at. his bidding, blasted a tree at 
his word, changed water into wine, &. And 
this seems to have been no more than a necessary 
condescension to the weakness of men’s minds in — 
those days. They did not at once conclude that 
He must be a true prophet from his working one 
miracle; but said, “ When [the] Christ cometh, 
will he do more miracles than these which this 
man doeth?” (John vii. 31.) So also, Nicode- 
mus says—not “ No man can do any miracles,” 
but,—“‘ No man can do these miracles which 
thou doest, except God be with him.” (John iii. 2.) 
And the disciples, who had witnessed so many 
miraculous cures, were astonished, we are told, at 
finding that Jesus had a command over the storm: 
“ What manner of man is this, that even the 
winds and the sea obey him?” (Matt. viii. 27.) 

And we find the same variety also in the mira- 
culous gifts possessed by the Apostles, and be- 
stowed by them on other Christians: (as you 
may see in 1 Cor: xii. and elsewhere.) 

§ 2. You should observe, too, that it would 
not have satisfied men’s minds merely to see some 
extraordinary occurrence unless it were also 
something plainly done by the Apostles, as a 
sign, testifying that they were divine messengers. 
It would have been impossible for them in the 
midst of adversaries, to take advantage of some 


VUL] WONDERS AND SIGNS. 57 


remarkable event, calling it a miracle, and to 
explain it so as to favor their own pretensions. 
This has often been done, indeed, in support 
of some religion, or some doctrine, which men 
already believe, or are inclined to believe. The 
Pagans were, many of them, ready enough to 
attribute any thing wonderful to a miraculous in- 


' terference of Jupiter or some of their other gods. 
_ And so, also, Mohammed easily persuaded his 
‘followers that some of his victories were mira- 


culous, and that God sent angels to fight for him. 
He was a great warrior, and his followers being 
full of enthusiasm, and eager for conquest, glory, 
and plunder, often defeated a very superior force 
of their enemies, and gained victories, which may 
be rightly called wonderful, though not more 
wonderful than several which have been gained 
by others. It is not strange, therefore, that Mo- 
hammed should easily have persuaded them that 
their victories were miraculous, and were a proof 
that God was on their side. 

§ 3. In all times, indeed, men are to be found 
who call any extraordinary event miraculous, and 
interpret it so as to favor their own views and 
prejudices. Ifa man’s life is preserved from ship- 
wreck, or any other danger, in a remarkable man- 
ner, many people speak of it as a miraculous 
escape. Or if a man loses his life in a remarkable 
manner, or a plot is discovered in some curious 
train of circumstances, or, in short, if any extra- 
ordinary event takes place, there are persons who 
at once call it a miraculous interference, and a 


a) 


58 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


Neal 


sign of the divine favor or displeasure towards — 


some of the parties concerned. 

And you may often find men of opposite 
opinions putting opposite interpretations on the 
same event. This was the case when that curious 
meteor, called the “‘ Northern Lights,” was first 


observed in England, which was about the begin- — 


ning of the last century; for it is a very curious 


fact, that, though it has often been seen since, 


(particularly in 1836 and 1837,) it is not recorded 
ever to have been seen in the British islands before 
that time. On its first appearing, people were 
- greatly astonished and alarmed, at an appearance 
which seemed out of the course of nature; and 
many declared that it was a supernatural sign and 
that it portended such and such events ; each giv- 
ing a different interpretation, according to his own 
particular prejudices. But people of sense saw 
that it was no sign at all; because there was no 
one who had either any authority to declare or 
any power to know, what it was a sign of. 

§ 4. But it is very rash to pronounce in this 
manner as to any remarkable event that occurs. 
And it is not only rash, but uncharitable also, to 
pronounce that sudden death, or any extraordi- 
nary affliction that befalls any one, is a miracu- 
lous divine judgment upon him. This is what the 
people of Melita did in respect of St. Paul, when 
they saw the viper fasten on his hand, and con- 
cluded that he must be a murderer pursued by the 
divine vengeance. (Acts xxviii. 3, 4.) This un- 
charitable rashness is censured by our Lord in 
Luke xiii. 2, 3. 


VIII. ] WONDERS AND SIGNS. 59 


The people of Melita were ignorant Pagans; 
but we of these days ought to know better. You 
may easily perceive, on reflection, that a mere 
wonderful occurrence, of itself, proves nothing ; 
but when a man does something that is beyond 
human power to do, or foretells something beyond 


- human foresight, and makes this a testimony of 


his coming from God, it is then, and then only, 
that he is properly said to offer a miraculous proof. 
And accordingly the works performed by Jesus 
and his Apostles are called in Scripture, (as they 
really were,) not merely Miracles (that is, wonders, 
but Signs; that is, miraculous evidence. (Mark 
xvi. 20.) 

For instance, that a violent storm should sud- 
denly cease, and be succeeded by a complete 
calm, is something extraordinary; but of itself 
proves nothing. But when the disciples heard 
Jesus give his command, and rebuke the wind and 
waves, which immediately became still, they justly 


Tegarded this as a stgn that God was with him. 


(Matt. viii. 26.) So also, that a person seemingly 
dead should suddenly revive and rise up, is indeed 
a wonderful event; but, of itself, is merely a won- 
der. But when Jesus told the child of Jairus, 
(Luke viii. 54,) and the widow’s son of Nain, 
(Luke vii. 14,) to rise up, and each of them did 
so at his word, these became proofs of his divine 
mission. ‘These were among the “ works which,” 
as he said, “bore witness of Him.” Again, if 
any one who is opposing some particular religious 
sect or system, should suddenly lose his eyesight, 
it would be very presumptuous to pronounce at 


60 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


once that he was struck blind as a divine judg- 
ment. But when St. Paul rebuked Elymas, and 
declared that the hand of the Lord was upon him, 
and that he should become blind, and immediately 
a darkness did fall upon him, (Acts xiii. 10, 11,) 
the Roman governor justly regarded this as a 
sign and believed accordingly in what Paul was 
teaching. 

§ 5. Any thing wonderful in short, is then (and 
then only) a miraculous sign, when some one 
performs or foretells it, in a manner surpassing 
human power, so as to make it attest the truth of 
what he says. And this may fairly be required 
of any one professing to be a messenger from 
Heaven. For if a stranger were to come to you 
professing to bring a message from some friend 
of yours, you would naturally expect him to show 
you that friend’s handwriting, or some other such 
token, to prove that he really was so sent. And 
so, also, when a man comes to this country as an 
ambassador from some other country, he is required 
first to produce his ‘‘ credentials,” as they are 
called; that is papers which prove that he is no 
impostor, but is really commissioned as an ambas- 
sador. And it is equally right that men profess- 
ing to bring a message immediately from God, 
should be required to show what may be called 
their “credentials ;” that is, such miraculous 
powers as God alone could have bestowed, as a 
sign or token, to prove the reality of their divine 
commission. 

§ 6. But credulous and superstitious people 
often overlook this rule; and are ready to inter- 


. 


1X.] SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 61 


pret as a miraculous sign any remarkable occur- 
rence,—such as a victory, or a famine, or a thun- 
der-storm, or a sudden recovery from sickness, or 
the like,—when these are so explained as to favor, 
or at least not oppose their prejudices, and the 
religious belief they are already inclined to. But 
the Apostles found no such prejudices in their 
favor. They would never have been allowed to 
explain in their own way any thing strange that 
might happen. On the contrary, all the super- 
stitious credulity of the people was opposed to 
them. And instead of men’s being ready to ery 
“Miracle!” when any thing extraordinary oc- 
curred, and to interpret it in favor of Christianity, 
the Apostles found the most credulous men dis- 
posed rather to attribute the Christian miracles to 
magic. 

In order to gain converts, therefore, or even to 
obtain a hearing, they must have shown (as. our 
book tells us they did) many mighty works, evi- 
dently performed by them, as ‘‘the signs of an 
Apostle. 


LESSON IX. 
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 


§ 1. You will have seen, by this time, what a 
mistake itis to suppose, that ordinary Christians 
cannot be taught to understand the evidence for 
their religion, but must be content to take it for 
granted, as the Pagans do theirs, because they 


* 


62 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


have been brought up to it. There are indeed, 
many who do so and who think that no more is 
to be expected of unlearned Christians; that is, 
of such as do not understand Greek and Hebrew, 
and have not studied a great number of books. 
But you now know by your own experience, that 
it is possible for you to learn,—as the Apostle 
directs us,—to be “ready to give a reason of the 
hope that is in you.” 

How comes it then, that some persons pretend 
that an ordinary Christian cannot be taught this ? 
It is, because when they speak of “‘ the evidences 
of Christianity,” they mean all the evidences. 
And certainly, to be well acquainted with all of 
these, would be enough to occupy the whole life 
of a studious man, even though he should devote 
himself entirely to that study. Indeed, to go 
through all the books that have been written on 
the subject, and to examine and thoroughly mas- 
ter all the arguments on both sides that have 
ever been brought forward, would be more than 
any one man could accomplish, even if he had 
nothing else to do.” But there are things which 
you may have very good reasons for believing, 
though you may not know a tenth part of the 
proofs of them, that have been or might be pro- 
duced. For instance, you may have good grounds 
for believing that there is such a city as Rome, 
aud that it was formerly the capital of a mighty 
empire, of which Britain was one of the provinces. 
But all the evidence that might be brought for- 
ward in proof of this would be enough to occupy 
a learned man for many years, if he were to ex- 


IX. ] SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 63 


amine it thoroughly. It is sufficient in any case, 
if we have enough evidence to warrant our belief; 
even though there should be much more evidence 
of the same thing besides, which we have not ex- 
amined. Although, therefore, the generality of 
Christians cannot be expected to know the whole, 
or near the whole, of the proofs of their religion, 
that is no reason against their seeking, and ob- 
taining, proofs enough to convince a reasonable 
mind, 

Kven that small portion of the evidences you 
have now been learning, is perhaps more than 
sufficient for this purpose; though it is but a part, 
even of what you may hereafter be able to under- 
stand. 

§ 2. It is certain that Christianity now exists; 
and that Jesus Christ is acknowledged as Lord 
and Master, (in words at least,) among all the most 
civilized people of the world. It is certain too, 
that this cannot have been always the case ; but 
that Christianity must have been introduced, by 
some means or other, among the Jews and Pa- 
gans; who must have had some reasons that ap- 
peared to them very strong, to induce them to 
change the religions they had been brought up in. 

You know also, that this great revolution in the 
religion of the world was begun by a person of 
humble rank, in one of the least powerful and 
least esteemed of the ancient nations. It was nota 
mighty warrior, or a rich and powerful prince, ora 
learned philosopher, but a Jewish peasant, that 
brought about this wonderful change. And you 
are sure accordingly, that no one, whether friend 


i. 

6t CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 
° “or enemy, can reasonably doubt, that Jesus of Naz- 
~areth is at eny rate the most extraordinary and 
most important personage that ever appeared in 
- the world. 

§ 8. Again, you have seen that there is good 
reason to be certain that Jesus and his apostles 
propagated their religion by an appeal to miracles ; 
that is, that they professed to perform works be- 
yond human power, as a sign of their being mes- 
sengers from God. And no one has ever been able 
to point out any other way in which they did, or 
could, introduce the religion. Nor can we con- 
ceive how a few Jewish peasants, without power, 
or wealth, or learning, or popular prejudice on 
their side, could have been, at first, either believed 
or listened to, if they had not begun by appealing 
to the testimony of miraculous signs. Now this 
would have been no help, but a hinderance to 
their preaching, if their pretensions to supernatu- 
ral powers had not been true; because surrounded 
as they were by adversaries and men prejudiced 
against them, any attempt at imposture would 
have been detected, and would have exposed them 
to general scorn. And, accordingly, it does not 
appear that any of the Pagan religions—in short, 
any religion except ours—ever was first introduced 
and established among adversaries by an appeal 
to the evidence of miracles. 

We have good grounds for believing, therefore, 
that the people of those times, even the enemies 
of Christianity, found it impossible to deny the 
fact of the miracles being wrought (see Acts iv. 
16); and thence were driven to account for them 


‘+ 
IX.] SUMMARY OF EVIDENGES. re 65 
as the work of evil spirits. And this we find re- 
corded not only in the writings of Christian — 
authors, but also in those of Jewish and Pagan 
adversaries. , 

§ 4. We find accounts too, in the works of 
Pagan writers, as well as in the New Testament, of 
the severe persecutions which great numbers of 
the early Christians had to encounter. And this 


furnishes a proof of their sincerely believing not 


only the truth of their religion, but also the mira- 
cles which many of them professed to have seen, 
and in which they could not have been mistaken. 
For if these miracles had been impostures, it is 
incredible that such numbers of men should have 
exposed themselves to dangers and hardships to 
attest the truth of them, without any one being 
induced by suffering (and this, though some of 
them were driven to renounce Christianity,) to be- 
tray the imposture. 

§ 5. That the works of these writers have really 
come down to us, and that the general sense of 
them is given in our translations, you have good , 
reason to be convinced, even without understand- 
ing the original languages, or examining ancient 
nanuscripts. You need not take the word of a 
scholar for this, or feel such full confidence in 
the honesty of any two or three learned men, as 
to trust that they would not deceive you in any 
thing, and to believe on their authority. There is, 
and has been, so great a number of learned men 
in various countries and ages, some opposed to 
Christianity, and others, Christians of different 
sects, opposed to each other, that they never could 

6k 


66 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. | [LESSON 


be 
have agreed in forging a book, or putting forth 
a, false translation. On the contrary, any sup- 
posed mistake or fraud of any of them, the rest 
are ready to expose. So that there is no reason- 
able doubt as to any thing in which they all agree. 

And this, you have seen, is the same sort of 
evidence on which most men believe that the earth 
is round,—that there is such a city as Rome,— 
and many other things which they have not them- 
selves seen, but which rest on the uncontradicted 
testimony of many independent witnesses. 

6. You have seen also, that in respect of the 
books of the Old Testament there is this very re- 
markable circumstance, that they are preserved 
with the utmost care and reverence by the Jews, 
who reject Jesus Christ, although these books 
contain what appear to Christians most remark- 
able prophesies of Him. 

And it was pointed out to you, that there are 
many parts of these prophecies of which we see 
the fulfillment before us, though the early Chris- 
tians did not; namely, that a religion should 
arise among the Jews, which would have a wide 
spread among the Gentiles, but yet that it should 
be a mew religion, not the same as taught by 
Moses; and that this religion should spring, not 
from the whole nation, but from one individual 
of that nation, and He a person despised, re- 
jected, and persecuted even to death, by his own | 
people. . 

All this, which is so unlike what any one 
would have foretold from mere guess, and which 
we see actually come to pass, is prophesied in 


el 


Pa < 


: fe a 
IX.] —|, SUMMARY OF EVIDENCES. 67 
et 


books which enemies of Christianity (the unbe- 
lieving Jews of this day) reverence as divinely 
inspired. 

Now if you reflect attentively on all these 
heads of evidence which you have been learning, 
and of which this short summary has just been 
put before you, you will perceive that even a por- 
tion of it might be fairly considered as a strong 
reason to be given of the hope that is in you; 
but that when you take the whole of i together, 
it is sufficient to satisfy any reasonable mind. 
For, to believe that so many. marks of truth 
should. be brought together by chance, or by 
man’s contrivance, in favor of a false story,—to 
believe this, I say, would be much greater cre- 
dulity than to believe that the Gospel really was 
from God. 

§ 7. These marks of truth, you should observe, 
are (as has been said) a vast deal stronger when, 
taken together, and confirming each other. For, 
each of the separate proofs may be regarded as a 
distinct witness. And when several independent 
witnesses give the same evidence, their agreement 
may prove the matter completely, even when no 
one of those witnesses is, by himself, deserving 
of confidence. Suppose, for instance, that one 
out of several men,—none of them much to be 
relied on,—gives a particular account of some 
transaction which he professes to have seen: 
you may think it not unlikely that he may have 
invented the story, or have dreamed it: but 
then, if his account is confirmed by another, and 
another, of these men, who, you are sure, could 


é, 
v "Se 


Sa 


68 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. — [LESSON 


have no communication with the first, you then 
conclude that it must be true; because they 
could not have chanced, all of them, to invent 
the same story, or to have the same dream. And 
so it is, when you have a number of different 
marks of truth meeting together, as they do, in 
the gospel history. Even if each of these, taken 
separately, had much less force than it actually 
has, it would be infinitely unlikely that they 
should all happen to be found united in a false 
story. 

§ 8. These arguments, however, have been 
laid before you very briefly ; and hereafter, if you 
will study them at leisure, and dwell upon them 
more fully, in your own mind, and in conversa- 
tion with others, you will see the force of them 
still more and more. 

But though these arguments are enough to 
satisfy you that an ordinary Christian, who does 
not pretend to be a learned. man, may yet believe 
in his religion on better grounds than the Pagans 
have for believing theirs, there are many other 
arguments besides; some of which are quite 
within the reach of the unlearned. In particular, 
what is called the internal evidence of Chris- 
tianity,—that is, the. proof drawn from the cha- 
racter of the religion itself, and of the Christian 
Scriptures,—is a kind of evidence which you will 
find more and more satisfactory the more you 
reflect on and study the subject, if you endeavor 
at the same time sincerely to act up to the know- 
ledge you acquire, and to be the better for it in 
your life. 


oe 


’ ay 


bo * 


. 


*% 


X.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I. 69 


+ 


LESSON X 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I. 


§ 1. Ir the Christian religion was not from 
God, it must have been from man. It must 
have been a ‘‘ cunningly-devised fable” of artful 
impostors, or else a dream of crazy enthusiasts, 
or some mixture of these two, if it was not really, 
what it professed to be, a divine revelation. 

To examine then the internal evidence, is to 
inquire which of these is the most likely supposi- 
tion, looking to the character of the Gospel 
uself:—to consider whether the religion itself, 
and the Christian Scriptures, seem more likely to 
have proceeded from the God of truth, or from 
mére men, who were either designing impostors, 
or wild enthusiasts. ; 

Now, it may be said, that we are very imperfect 
judges of the question what is likely to have come 
from God, since we have such a faint and imper- 
fect knowledge of Him; so that we cannot decide 
with any confidence what we ought to expect in 
a divine revelation. This is-very true. But you 
should remember that the question is not whether 


‘Christianity seems to us likely, in dsel/, to have 


come from God, and is just such as we should 
have expected a divine revelation to be; but 
whether it is more likely to have come from God, 
or from man? For we know that the religion 
does exist; and therefore we have to consider 


70 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ LEssun 


not merely whether it is like what might be — 
looked for in a true revelation from God, but also, . 


whether it is wnlike what might be looked for in 
the work of human impostors or enthusiasts ? 

§ 2. Now, this is a question of which we are 
able to judge; because we have, or may acquire, 
such a knowledge of human nature as to decide, 
on good grounds, what is likely to have proceeded 
from man’s device. And the more you learn of 
mankind, and of the works of various writers, 


and again, the more you study the Christian ~ 


religion, the more you will see how different it is 

from any religion that mere men (and particu- 

larly Jews) would have been likely to contrive. 
But a great part of this internal evidence is 


such, as to require some experience and know-— 


ledge of the world, and reflection, as well as ac- 
quaintance with the Scriptures, to enable any 
one to take it in properly. Hereafter you may 
have it in your power to learn, by degrees, a 
great deal more of this than it would be possible 
clearly to put before you, here, at once, in a 
small space. But still there are several internal 
marks of truth that may be pointed out; which, 
though but a small part of what you may here- 
after find, are yet of- great importance. 

§ 8. For example, if the Christian religion 
had been contrived and propagated by a number 
of designing men, in such a way as would have 
seemed to them the best suited for gaining con- 
verts, you may be sure that they would naturally 
have put forth some book purporting to be writ- 
ten by Jesus himself, laying down the principles 


4 


Eel 


X.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART 1 1 


and precepts of his religion, and answering to 


the books of the Law written by Moses. All 


men who were at all disposed to listen to the 
preaching of the Gospel, and to examine the 
Christian Scriptures, would have been likely to 
inquire in the first place, (as, no» doubt, many 
persons did,) for something written by the very 
Founder of the new religion. If, therefore, there 
had been any forgery, the forged books,—or, at 
least. the principal of them,—would certainly 


' have been attributed to Jesus Christ as their 
- author. And. all that were not attributed to 


Him, would naturally have been published with 
the names of the most distinguished and eminent 
of his Apostles. 
~ Now the fact is, as you know, that of all the 
Christian Scriptures there is no one book pro- 
fessing to be written by Christ himself; and of 
the four Gospels, there are only two that are 
attributed even to any of the Apostles as the 
writers; St. Matthew’s and St. John’s: and, 
again, of these two, St. John alone is much dis- 
tinguished among the Apostles; very little be- 
ing recorded of St. Matthewin particular. The 
other two Gospels, and also the book of Acts, 
which records the first propagation of Chris- 
tianity, have come down to us as the work of two 
men, who appear, indeed, to have been the com- 
panions of sume of the most eminent of the 
Apostles, but who did not claim to be Apostles 
themselves. 

All this is just the reverse of what might have 
been expected from crafty and designing men, 


72 | CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [Lesson 


seeking to impose on the credulous for the pur- 
pose of gaining converts. ‘ 

§ 4. You should remember, too, that if the 
books of the New Testament, which contain ac- 
counts of so many wonderful oceurrences, were 
really published near the very time when these 
occurrences are said to have taken place, the ac- 
counts in these books must be, substantially, 
true; because any material falsity would have- 
been immediately exposed, by the adversaries of 
Christianity. And if, on the other hand, these 
books had been forged a hundred or two hundred » 
years later, and had been falsely attributed to the - : 
authors whose names they bear, we cannot doubt. » 
that some at least of those books would have m 
been attributed to the great Founder of the reli-— 
gion Himself. ; 

And moreover, on that supposition—that is, 
supposing the books to have been composed at a 
later period than that of the Apostles,—we should 
undoubtedly have found in them the title of 
CurISTIANS applied to the believers in Jesus by 
themselves. For that title has been so applied, 
in every age down to this day, by all Christian 
writets since the times of the Apostles. And 
therefore there can be no doubt that any writer 
in the second or third or fourth century who was 
composing pretended gospels and epistles, would 
have continually called Christians by that very 
name, which he and all his neighbors had been 
accustomed so to employ. 

But in all the books of the New Testament we 
do not once find the title of Christians applied by 


= 


X. INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I, 73 
ae 
themselves to one another. The word occurs but 
three times in the New Testament; in the 11th 
chapter of Acts, in the 26th chapter of Acts, and 
in the Ist Epistle of Peter, chapter 4; and in no 
one of these places is it thus employed. It is 
mentioned as a name first given to the disciples 
at Antioch in Syria; doubtless by the Romans, 
as the word is of Latin formation. King Agrippa, 
again, uses the word in speaking to Paul; and 
the Apostle Peter introduces the word as deno- 
ting what was accounted a crime by the heathen 
rulers. “If any man,” says he, ‘suffer for being 


| ‘a Christian, let him not be ashamed.” 

Mg Th tng OF ° . ° 

_ . But addressing the Christians themselves, the 

_ Apostles never call them by that name, but ‘‘be- 

eaevers,” or “‘ faithful,” |“ elect,” [or ‘‘ chosen,” 
? bs 


“ saints,” [or “holy,” that is set. apart and dedi- 
cated to God’s service, | “brethren,” &e. 

The reason why the Apostles always used these 
names in preference to the new name of Christians, 
probably was, in order to point out that Christi- 
anity was not so much a new religion, as a con- 
tinuation and fulfillment of the old, and a com- 
pletion of God’s original design ; and that all be- 
lievers, whether Jews or Gentiles, were admitted 
to the same privleges—only much enlarged— 
which had belonged to God’s people Israel. Now 
the Israelites are continually called in the Old 
Testament “ Brethren,” “a Holy People” [or 
“ Saints,” | God’s “chosen” [or “ Elect’ ] People, 
&c. And hence it was, no doubt, that the Apos- 
tles chose to confine themselves to those titles. 

After their time, when Jerusalem and its tem- 


T 


i, - a 
he . 
T4 “CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


ple had been destroyed, and the admission of Gen- 
tiles into the number of God’s people ceased to 
appear any thing strange—the church consisting 
chiefly of Gentiles—then Christians naturally 
adopted among themselves the title which had 
long been in common use among the rest of the 
world. 

But whatever was the cause of the earliest 
Christians abstaining from the use of that title, 
the fact that they did so abstain, is clear. 

Here, therefore, you have a decisive INTERNAL 
PROOF of the antiquity of our sacred books. Had 
they been composed at a later period than that of 
the Apostles, we should have found in them the 
disciples continually addressed by the name of 
Christians ; which is, in fact, never once so used. 

§ 5. Again, it is certain that at the time when 
Jesus appeared, the Jews were earnestly expect- 
ing a Christ or Messiah,—(that is, an anointed 
Deliverer,) who should be a mighty prince, and 
free them from the subjection to the Romans, and 
make them a powerful nation, ruling over all the 
Gentiles. And this is what is still expected by 
the Jews at this day. Now, if Jesus and his 
Apostles had been enthusiasts, or-impostors, or a 
mixture of the two, they would most likely have 
conformed to the prevailing expectations of the 
people. They would have been likely to give out 
that the ‘‘kingdom of heaven” which was ‘‘at 
hand” was a glorious worldly empire, such as the 
Jews had fixed their hopes on, instead of a “ king- 
dom not of this world,” which was what they did 
preach. 


; ~ 
we 


i 
« a 


X.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART T. 15 


And we know that the several pretended Christs 
who appeared a little before the destruction of 
Jerusalem, and even after it, did profess, each, to 
come as a temporal deliverer and conquerer, agree- 
ably to the prevailing notions. 

Jesus and his disciples, on the contrary, not 
only proclained no temporal kingdom, but did not 
even promise any worldly success and prosperity 
to their followers; but told them, that ‘‘in the 
world they should have tribulation.” (John xvi. 


383.) <And this is the more remarkable, because 


the Jews had been always brought up in the notion 
that worldly prosperity was a sign of God’s favor ; 
such being the rewards promised in the Mosaie 
law. The hardships and afflictions in this life, 
which men were told they must make up their 
minds to, if they became Christians, were not only 
disheartening, but also likely to raise a prejudice 
in their minds against Jesus and his disciples, 
as if they could not be really favored by God; 
according to the prophecy of Isaiah, ‘‘ We did 
esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and af- 
flicted.”” (iii. 4.) 

All this, therefore, is what either impostors or 
enthusiasts of any nation, but especially of the 
Jewish nation, would have been very unlikely to 
teach. 

§ 6. Again, if the Apostles had been design- 
ing men, willing to flatter the prejudices of the 
Jews, for the sake of making converts, but yet 
afraid of proclaiming Christ as a temporal king 
and deliverer, for fear of provoking the Romans, 
they would at least have taught that the Jews 


76 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


were to have a spiritual superiority ; that is, that 
they were to be still God’s peculiar people in a re- 
ligious point of view. They would have taught 
that Jerusalem was still to be the Holy City, and 
that all men were to come thither to worship and 
offer sacrifices in the temple, and were to observe 
all the law of Moses, in order to obtain God’s 
favor. This would have been the most acceptable 
doctrine to the Jews; and what the Apostles, 
being themselves Jews, would hardly have failed 
to teach, if the Gospel had been a scheme of their 
devising. And accordingly we learn from the 
Acts, and from several of St. Paul’s Epistles, 
(especially that to the Galatians,) that many of 
the Jewish converts did labor to bring the Gentile 
Christians to the observance of the Mosaic law. 
But the Apostles never would admit this doctrine ; 
but taught that the Gentile Christians were not 
to take upon them the yoke of the Jewish law, 
and were perfectly on a level with their Jewish 
brethren; and that under the Gospel, Jerusalem 
and its temple had no particular sanctity. 

Now all this is just the opposite of what might 
have been expected of impostors or enthusiasts 
preaching a religion of their own fancy or con- 
trivance. . 

§ 7. It is true, indeed, that to have given this 
pre-eminence to the Jews, and their city and 
temple, though it would have been flattering to 
Jewish prejudices, and might have been likely to 
allure converts of that nation, would not have been 
so acceptable to the Gentiles as a religion which 
should have put them on an equal footing with 


X.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I. TT 


the Jews. Butif the Gospel had been artfully 
framed to gratify and allure the Gentiles it would 
at least have had one ordinance which would have 
been acceptable to Jews and Gentiles alike: 
namely, the slaying of beasts in sacrifice. In this 
point the Jewish and all the different Pagan re- 
ligions agreed. Sheep and oxen were slain as 
burnt-offerings, on the altars both of Jehovah and 
the heathen gods. Indeed, it is a kind of worship 
so suitable to men’s notions, that it was revived 
several ages after by the Mohammedans, who 
have a sacrifice of a camel on certain festivals, 
as an ordinance of their religion. But at the time 
when Christianity first arose, neither Jew or 
Pagan had ever heard of or conceived such a 
thing, as a religion in which no animals were 
sacrificed. They had always been so accustomed 
to these offerings, that they most likely regarded 
them as essential to every religion, and were asto- 
nished and shocked at finding that the Christian 
religion was without them. And it is incredible 
that Christianity should have been without them, 
if it had been a religion invented by men. It 
would never have entered into the minds of its 
authors to make it an exception to all the religions 
that existed, or that they had ever heard of; and 
that, too, in a point which would be likely to 
shock all men’s feelings and prejudices. 

The whole character, indeed, of the Christian 
religion, differs so widely, in many particulars, 
both from the Jewish and from all the other reli- 
gions which had ever existed in the world, that 
One cannot conceive how any men could, of them- 


T* 


78 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


selves, have thought of any such system; much 
less, thought of it, as likely to be well received. 

And the same may be said of the character of 
Jesus Himself, as drawn by the Evangelists. It 
is quite unlike all that had ever before appeared, 
or been described, or imagined. 

§ 8. Another point to be observed is this: 
that mere men, seeking to propagate their reli- 
gion in whatever way they might think best, 
would naturally have been so eager to make con- 
verts, that they would not have insisted very 
much on a strict moral life in those who did but 
show great zeal in their Master’s cause; but 
would have allowed active services to their party 
to make amends for some neglect of other duties. 
Mohammed accordingly declared that the highest 
place in the divine favor belonged to those who 
fought bravely in his cause. And in almost all 
sects and: parties you may see the same disposi- 
tion in men to reckon zéai in their cause as a vir- 
tue so great, that it will excuse many and consi- 
derable faults in private life. 

This mode.of judging, which is so natural to 
man, is just the opposite of what we find in Jesus 
Christ aud his Apostles. They not only taught 
their followers to be pure and upright [righteous |, 
aud kiud and humble, but taught them also that 
nothing they could say or do in the cause of the 
Christian faith could make up for the want of these 
Christian virtues, or would be at all accepted by 
their Master. He not only compares a man who 
should hear his precepts without acting upon 
them, to one who “ built a house on the sand,” 


XI.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART II. 79 


and reproaches those who called Him “Lord! 
Lord!” and “did not the things which he said,” 
(Matt. vii. 26, Luke vi. 46,) but He also declares 
that those who had “preached in his name,” and 
in his name even “done many wonderful works,” 
should be disowned and rejected by Him, if they 
were “ workers- of iniquity.” (Matt. vii. 22, 23.) 
And the Apostles, in like manner, taught their 
converts that their professing the Christian faith 
was a reason for requiring not the less, but the 
more, strictness of morals from them, (1 Cor. 
v. 11, 12;) and that even the miraculous powers 
bestowed on them were worthless, if they had 
not that charity which is humble, gentle, patient, 
and self-denying. (1 Cor. xiii.) 

All this is what we might have expected from 
teachers sent from God. And experience shows 
how different it is from what might have been 
expected of mere human teachers, acting accord- 
ing to their own judgment and their natural 
feeling's. 


LESSON XI. 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART IL. 


§ 1. You may observe, again, that the kind 
of moral duty which Jesus and his Apostles 
taught, was not what was the most likely to gain 
them popularity with their hearers. The Jews 
had a great deal of national pride in being God’s 
holy and peculiar people; they looked on the 


80 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


Gentiles as unclean and outcasts: and had a 
particular hatred and contempt for the Samari- 
tans. The Romans, again, were no less proud 
of their military glory and political power; and 
the Greeks of their superior wisdom and refine- 
ment. And all were zealous for the glory, and 
greatness, and superiority, each, of his own coun- 
try. It was not acceptable to any of these to be 
taught to “love their enemies,”—to return good 
for evil,—to be humble and forgiving,—patient 
under persecution,—gentle and kind to all men; 
and lastly, to consider men of every race, and of 
every station, as on a level in respect of the 
Gospel promises ; and that, in God’s sight, there 
was to be “neither Greek, nor Jew, Barbarian, 
Scythian, bond nor free.” (Coloss. iii. 11.) 

Moreover, party-spirit ran very high among 
the Jews; especially between the sects of the 
Pharisees and Sadducees. Now, an enthusiast 
would have most likely been a zealous partisan 
of one of these sects; and a scheming impostor, 
if he did not join one of them, would have been 
likely to aim at the favor of both, by flattering 
each in turn, and gratifying each by ex osing 
the faults of their opponents. Jesus, on the 
contrary, in his discourses to each party, sets 
before them their own errors, (Luke xi. 42, &e. ; 
xx. 27;) and He does the same in respect of the 
Jews and Samaritans. (Luke x. 33; Johniv. 22.) 

All this is worthy of a “teacher sent from 
God, and is quite different from what we might 
expect of mere human teachers, 

§ 2. Many men, it is true, would be ready to 


g 


ee ae ee 


XJI.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I. 81 


praise and to recommend a life of greater purity 
and uprightness, than their neighbors, or they 
themselves, are accustomed to practice. Several 
of the ancient heathen philosophers wrote moral 
treatises containing some excellent precepts, and 
describing a much higher degree of virtue than 
was commonly found in-the lives of the heathen 
generally, or even in the lives of those very phi- 
losophers themselves. And if the New Testa+ 
ment writers had been men of the higher and 
more educated classes, accustomed to converse 
with the learned, and to study philosophical 
works, instead of being, mostly, poor and igno- 
rant Jewish fishermen and artisans, it would not 
have been wonderful that they should have taught 
a higher degree of morality than what men in 
general practised. 

But the Gospel went beyond, not merely what 
men practised, but what they approved. It was 
not merely belter than men’s conduct; but, in 
several points, contrary to their principles. For 


instance, to “love one’s enemies,”—to return 


“good for evil,”—to be “meek and lowly in 
spirit,”—“not easily provoked,”—but forbearing, 
submissive, and long-suffering,—all this was not 
merely not practised by the ancient heathen and 
Jews, but it was not even admired; on the con- 
trary, it was regarded with scorn, as base and 
mean-spirited. 

§ 3. And, what is more, even now, we may 
often find professed Christians, while they hold 
in reverence the very books which teach such 
lessons, yet not only practising, but approving, 


3 


4 ‘ 


Vw 
82 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [LESSON 


the very opposite. We may find some who value 
themselves on a quick resentment of ronts, 
(calling it “indignation;”) and in using what 
they call “ strong language” towards opponents ; 
that is, reviling and insult. And» even fie 
strife and bitter persecution will often be admir 
as ‘manly and spirited conduct,” and as a noble 
Christian zeal. And you will find all this even 
‘in men who venerate the very Gospel, which re- 
lates how Jesus rebuked his Apostles for offering 
to call down fire from heaven on his enemies ; 
and told them that they “ knew not what manner 
of spirit they were of.” | me 

Since, then, Christianity is opposed not only 
to men’s natural znclinations, but also, in some 
points, to their ¢deas of what is dignified and 
praiseworthy, you may see how incredible it is { 
that mere ordinary human beings should have 
contrived a religion which condemns, not onl 
men’s conduct, but their principles. 

§ 4. Then, again, if you look to the style of 
writing in the historical books, (the four Gospels 
and the Acts,) you will observe that neither ‘ 
miracles nor the sufferings of Christ or his Ay Os- 
tles are boastfully set forth, and eloquen ae 
scribed and remarked upon; as would have been — 
natural for writers desirous of making a stron: 
impression on the reader, There is no endeavor 
to excite wonder, or admiration, or compassion. 
or indignation. There is nothing, in short, such 
as we should have expected in writers who were 
making up a marvelous story to produce an 
effect on men’s feelings and imaginations. The 


ed 


¢ < 
_ 
XJ.] | INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART II. 83 


miracles performed, and the instances of heroic 
‘ortitude displayed, are all related, briefly, calmly, 
nd drily, and almost with an air of indifference, 
s if they were matters of every-day occurrence, 
d which the readers were familiar with, And 
is is, indeed, one strong proof that the readers 
to whom these books were addressed,—the early 
Christians,—really were (as the books themselves 


these things; in short, that the persecutions en- 


really were, in those times and countries, common 
and notorious. oth 
You should observe, also, the candid and frank 
simplicity with which the New Testament writers 
describe the weakness and faults of the disciples ; 
not excepting some of the most eminent among 
the Apostles. Their “slowness of heart,” [ that 
Ad ns of understanding, |—their want of faith 
| [t ust ] in their Master, and their worldly ambition 
om and jealousy among themselves, are spoken of 
without reserve, and as freely as the faults of their 
ersaries. — | 
-_ § 5. This, and some of the other points in the 
Yew Testament that have been noticed would be 
y remarkable if met with in any one book ; but 
it is still more so, when you consider that the 
same character runs through all the books of the 
Testament; which are no less than twenty- 
seven distinct compositions, of several different 
kinds, written apparently at considerable intervals 
of time from each other, and which have come 
down to as as the works of no less than eight dif- 


a 


give us to understand they were) familiar with. 


» dured, and the signs displayed, by the Apostles, — 


‘s# 
o 
Ae 


* 
‘* 


84 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [| Lesson 


ferent authors. You might safely ask an unhe- 
liever to point out the same number—or half the 
number—of writers in behalf of any sect, party, 
or system, all of them, without a single exception, 
writing with the same modest simplicity and with- 
out any attempt to excuse, or to extol, and set 
off themselves. 

In this respect, and in many others, both the 
Christian religion itself, and the Christian Scrip- 
tures are totally unlike what they might have been 
expected to be if they had been from man. They 
appear too simple, candid, and artless, to come 
from impostors; and too calm, sober, and wise, 
for enthusiasts. And yet, if Christianity were 
the device of men, these men must have been 
either the most deliberate, artful, and wicked of im- 
postors, or else by far the wildest and maddest set 
of enthusiasts that were ever combined together; 
since they did not (as many crazy enthusiasts have 
done) appeal merely to their own inward feelings 
and their dreams or visions, but to matters of 
fact coming under the evidence of the senses; in 
which none but a complete madman could be mis- 
taken, and most of which their adversaries were 
freé to judge of as well as themselves. 


XII] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I. 85 


LESSON XII. 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES, PART III. 


§ 1. Turse few heads, then, of: internal evi- 
dence, which have been here briefly sketched out, 
would, even alone, furnish good reason for beliey- 
ing that the Gospel did not, and could not have 
come from man; and that, therefore, it must have 
come from God. And yet these internal marks 
of truth which have been here pointed out by way 
of specimens, are but a very small part of what 
you may hereafter make out for yourself; and are 
not even selected as being the principal and the 
most conclusive, but only as those which could the 
most easily be put before you in a small compass. 
At some future time, when your power of judging 
-is improved, you will feel the very character of 
our Saviour, as described in the Gospels, to be (as 
I have hinted to you) one of the strongest proofs, 
and the most satisfactory and delightful proof, of 
the truth of his religion. 

But the moral excellence of his character, as 
drawn by the Evangelists, is what could not be 
set forth, so as to do justice to the argument 
founded on it, within a small space. For, it 
would be necessary to dwell at some length on 
each of his sayings and acts, so as to point out 
the kindness and tenderness of heart,—the perse- 
vering benevolence,—the gentleness combined 

8 


86 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lisson 


with dignity and firmness,—the active and un- 
wearied, yet calm zeal with which He labored for 
the good of mankind,—and the other great and 
amiable qualities which He displayed on so many 
occasions. And to do this properly, would require 
a volume nearly as large as the whole of this. 

But you may in a great measure supply to your- 
self such a work by attentively reading and re- 
flecting on, with a view to the present argument, 
the Gospels themselves; and especially such pas- 
sages as those referred to below.* 

§ 2. In conducting for yourself such a study as 
we have been suggesting, these three points should 
be attended to, and steadily kept before the mind. 

First,—the picture drawn by the Evangelists is 
evidently an unstudied one. There is nothing in 
it of the nature of eulogium and panegyric. They 
do not seem laboring to set forth and call atten- 
tion to the excellence of their Master’s character. 
They do not break out into any exclamations of 
admiration of it; and indeed make hardly any 
remarks on it at all; but simply relate what He 
said and did. 

Secondly,—if they had had the inclination, they 
do’not seem to have had the ability, to, draw a fic- 
titious character of great moral beauty, devised 
by their own imagination. They write like (what 
they were) plain, unpracticed authors, without 
learning, or eloquence, or skill in composition. 

- Now let any one try the experiment of setting 
some person of great ability as a writer, to draw 


# See note A at the end of this Lesson. 


‘<— 


XII] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART III. 87 


up a fictitious narrative cencerning some ima- 
ginary personage. Let him enter into particu- 
lar details as fully as the Evangelists have done : 
and let him do his best to paint a character as 
consistent, and as morally beautiful as that of 
Jesus. You would see how imperfectly he would 
succeed ; and how far he would fall short of the 
picture drawn (and which must, therefore, be a 
real picture) by untaught Jewish fishermen and 
peasants. 

And what we have been saying is confirmed by 
certain Works commonly called the ‘‘ Spurious 
Gospels ;”’ of which some considerable portions 
have come down to us. They seem to have been 
composed (some of them as early as the fourth 
century) partly from invention, and partly from 
some vague traditions that were afloat. But they 
were never, as far as we can learn, received by 
any Church as Scripture. These narratives pro- 
fess to give several particulars of the life of Jesus, 
—especially of his childhood—which are not to 
be found in the gennine Gospels. 

Now it is remarkable that though the writers 
evidently designed to raise admiration of our Lord, 
and manifest (which our Evangelists do not) that 
design very strongly, yet the picture they draw of 
Him is in many points contemptible or odious; 
for instance, they represent Him as exercising, 
when a child, miraculous powers, not for any 
purpose connected with his ministry, but merely 
for his own amusement; as any ordinary child 
would be likely to do, if gifted with such powers. 

And He is also represented as so passionate 


88 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


and mischievous a child that he miraculously 
struck dead another boy for accidentally running 
against him. 

In short his character as given in these “ Spu- 
rious Gospels” is quite a contrast to that given by 
each of our four Evangelists. And the whole tone 
of the Narratives themselves—the spurious, and 
the gennine,—is no less contrasted. 

§ 3. Thirdly,—You are to keep in mind that 
the private moral character of Jesus is unim- 
peached even by the opponents of his Gospel. 
None of them have ever imputed to Him avarice, 
or cruelty, or any kind of profligate sensuality. 
Now there is hardly any other very eminent man 
of whom this can be said, however groundless 
may be the charges brought against any of them. 

Certainly no man was ever so unimpeached in 
character who had so many and such bitter 
enemies ; enemies who would have been glad to 
get hold of any story, however false, or even any 
suspicion, that could raise a prejudice against Him. 

But even the Jews, in that book already men- 
tioned, (Lesson v. § 2,) though they lavish on Him 
all the most abusive epithets, yet do not charge 
Hiny with any one immoral act, in his private life. 

And you should keep in mind, among other 
things, that this man, whose extraordinary purity 
of moral character is thus strongly attested, did 
certainly profess to be a heaven-sent messenger, 
and to possess miraculous powers. Now any one 
who can believe that one whom He considers a 
good man would falsely put forth such preten- 
sions, deceiving his disciples, or suffering them to 


a ? 
fry 
* 


J 
rd 


XII.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART III. 89 


deceive themselves, as to his miraculous powers, 
and thus practising what is called a ‘“ pious fraud,” 
(in reality, an impious fraud,) for the sake of 
spreading his doctrines,—any one who can believe 
this of one whom he acconnts a virtuous man, 
must be himself a person of exceedingly low moral 
notions. p 

But all that relates to our Lord’s moral cha- 
racter is a thing rather to be felt than described : 
and you will feel it the more, and the better esti- 
mate the force of the arguments drawn from it, in 
proportion to your sincere desire and endeavor to 
conform your own character to the purest and 
best pattern you can find. 

The more, indeed, you learn of mankind, and 
of the Gospel, and the more you study, (with a 
sincere desire to know what is true, and to do 
what is right,) both other books, ancient and 
modern, and also the Christian Scriptures, the 
more you will perceive (as has been above said) 
how unlikely the Christian religion is to have 
been devised by man, and how well suited it is to 
meet the wants of man, and to improve his nature. 

§ 4. But when you do come to perceive the force 
of the internal evidence for the truth of Christi- 
anity, you will find that though it may be one of 
the reasons to have, it will often not be the best 
to give. A great part of this kind of evidence is 
better fitted to furnish a consoling satisfaction to 
the mind of a believer, than to convince an unbe- 
liever. For there is much of the excellence of the 
Christian religion that can only be learned fully 
from experience. Sincere believers perceive in it 

Bx 
. 
AL: 


eS FY 


 < 


aS 


90 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


a wisdom, and purity, and nobleness of character, 
which are not completely understood, nor tho- 
roughly liked and relished by any one, till he has 
become in a great degree, what the Christian re- 
ligion is designed to make him: till he has some- 
thing of such a character as the Gospel does not 
Jind in man, but forms in him. 

And this seems to be that Christian experience 
which the Apostles, especially St. John and St. 
Paul often appeal to as an evidence, (not indeed 
to unbelievers who could not have had this expe- 
rience ; but) in addressing their converts. ‘‘The 
Spirit itself’ (says St. Paul, Rom. viii. 16) 
‘“‘beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the 
children of God,” &e. 

It seems indeed, to have been designed that 
man’s conscience should bear witness not only 
against what is wrong, but also in favor of what 
is right. And hence a Christian who has for some 
time been laboring to conform himself to the Gos- 
pel, and who finds his religious notions becoming 
clearer, and that he is growing better, and holier, 
and happier, gains, by this, an experimental proof, 
which confirms the other proofs, of the truth of 
his religion. His conscience testifies that he is 
practically influenced and “led by the Spirit of 
Christ ;” and thus he is “filled,” (as St. Paul says, 
Rom. xv. 13,) ‘with all joy and peace in believ- 
ing.” 

And this is a kind of evidence which will be- 
come, to such a Cliistian, stronger and stronger 
the more he grows in grace, and in the knowledge 
of our Lord and Saviour.” But this proof from 


XII.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART Mt. 91 


personal experience is fitted (as has been said) 
not so much for the first conversion of an unhe- 
liever, as for the confirmation of a practical Chris- 
tian ; because no one else can feel, or fully under- 
stand and value it. 

§5. A life of genuine Christian virtue does, 
indeed, meet with some degree of approbation 
from most men, even though unbelievers: and it 
appears accordingly to have been, in the earliest 
times, a help towards the conversion of some of 
them. (1 Peter ii, 12.) And it is for you 
to bring before the minds of those you live with, 
this kind of testimony to Christianity from. its 
moral excellence ; not so much by talking of it, as 
by setting it forth in your life, and “ letting yonr 
light so shine before men, that they may see your 
good works, and glorify your Father which is in 
heaven.” (Matt. v.16.) But you must not ex- 
pect that any one will completely feel all the force 
of this kind of internal evidence of Christianity, 
till he shall have become himself a believer, and a 
Sincerely practical believer. It is not easy to give 
a clear desepription of the inside of a well-built 
and commodions house, to one who is on the out- 
side, and has never been in such a house, but 
always lived in a tent, like the wild Arabs, or in 
a smoky slovenly hovel. But you may be able to 
point out to him enough of what is on the outside, 
to induce him to desire to come in; and when he 
has done this, he will gradually be able to judge 
for himself; and by the habits of neatness, order, 
cleanliness, and decency, which he will be likely to 
acquire by living in such a house, will gain more 


92 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [Lesson 


and more the power of -perceiving the commo- 
diousness of it. And so it is with the evidences 
of Christianity. As soon as a man has seen 
enough, as he easily may do, of good evidence, 
to convince him that it is from God, if he will then 
be induced to come in, and heartily embrace it, 
and endeavor to understand it, and to apply it to 
himself, so as to be the better for it in his life, 
he will then be rewarded by a fuller and clearer 
view of many other evidences which he could not 
at first take in. And such a person will thus ob- 
tain the fulfillment of that promise of our Master: 
“Tf any man is willing to do [ will do] the will of 
God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be 
of God.” (John vii. 17.) 

6. Great care should be taken not to misun- 
derstand what has just been said; because you 
may hear from some persons what appears at the 
first glance very like it, though, in reality, quite 
different. I mean that you may meet with per- 
sons who profess to despise and dislike all that is 
commonly called “evidences for the truth of 

_ Christianity ;” and who say, “Let a man but feel 
the want of it ;—let him feel how suitable Christi- 
anity is to the needs of such a being as man ;— 
how it supplies such motives, and such guidance, 
and hopes, and consolations, as human nature re- 

‘i _ quires ; and then he will want no evidence to con- 

- vinee him of its trath :’—with a. great deal more 

wad Py to the same purpose. 
oe Mr Now all this may seem at the first glance very 
plausible ; ; but, on reflection, you will perceive 
that it is setting up man—each man for himself— 
, “ . 
+ aN 


‘> ; “ta 


f 
. 
~ oe 


XII.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART I. 93 


to be the standard of divine truth. On this 
principle, each one is to receive as a revelation 
whatever religion suits his own judgment of what 
is good, and his own wants, and wishes, and 
tastes. Now, we know how widely men differ 
from one another on these points, and what 
various and erroneous systems they are, accord- 
ingly, disposed to embrace. For instance, the 
Jews, at the time when Jesus appeared, felt a 
want of a victorious and mighty earthly deliverer, 
who should exalt their nation, and reign in great 
worldly splendor. The kingdom of Jesus, which 
was a “kingdom not of this world,” and which ad- 
mitted “‘ Gentiles to be fellow-heirs,” was precisely 
what they did not want. It did not at all suit 
their hopes, and wishes, and habits of thought. 
And, accordingly, the greater part of them re- 
jected Jesus, and followed those false Christs who 
promised to lead them to victory over the Ro- 
mans. Jesus, indeed, appealed to the evidence 
of his mighty works, while those false Christs pro- 
duced no evidence at all, except the suitableness 


of what they taught to the judgment, and to the ~ 


feelings and wants of the Jews. But most of the 
Jews, acting on the very principle I have been 
speaking of, disregarded evidence altogether, and 
gave themselves up to their own feelings, resolv- 
ing to believe what suited them best. ‘ 

In like manner, when Mohammed proclaimed 
himself a prophet, though he produced no mira- 
culous evidence, he was joined by a multitude of — 
followers. His religion suited a sensual, and ? 
_ gross-minded, and warlike, and ambitious people. 


7 . 
Py - 3 s 


94 is CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 
® ; 

ad , 

He promised them victory and plunder in this 
world, and, after death, a paradise of sensual en- 
joyments. And, finding that such a religion: 
suited their tastes and wants, they embraced it 
without seeking for any further evidence of its 
truth. The Hindoos, again, and other Pagans, 
adhere to their own religion without any evidence, 
and find it suitable to their own wants and tastes. 

And the same must be the case with all the 
most extravagant corruptions of Christianity that 
have arisen from time to time: such as that of 
the ancient Gnostics, who thought to obtain im- 
mortal life without practising moral virtue, and 
who had a taste for idle speculations concerning 
the nature of God. No one of these corrupt re- 
ligions could ever have arisen at all, or have been 
received, if those who introduced it, and their 
followers, had not felt a ‘‘ want” of some such 
system. 

It is plain, therefore, that the principle I have 
been speaking of tends to lead men into an end- 
less variety of errors. 

§ 7. But the course I have been recommend- 
ing is, in reality, exactly the reverse of all this. 
Jesus tells us that if any man is willing and de- 
sirous to do the will of his Heavenly Father, he 
shall know the truth of the doctrine. You must 
begin, therefore, by a readiness to follow—not 
your own will, but—the will of God; and to re- 
ceive whatever shall appear to come from Him, 
however contrary to your own expectations or 
wishes. And if in this temper of mind you pro- 
ceed to examine those evidences which Jesus and 


‘ne 


XIJ.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART MI. 95 


a a 
his Apostles appeal to, you will see good reason 
for believing in the Gospel. And then, if you 
embrace the Gospel and labor to conform your 
heart and your life to it, you will perceive that it 
does suit the nature and the real wants of man. 
For you will perceive that it tends to enlighten 
his judgment, and to improve his moral taste, 
and to lead him to live according to the best 
principles of his nature, and to secure him the 
truest peace and comfort. And in proportion as 
you come to perceive all this, you will thus obtain 
a strong additional confirmation of the truth of 
Christianity. 

But you will have obtained this, not by reject- 
ing evidence, and resolving to conform your reli- 
gious belief to your own tastes and inclinations ; 
but, on the contrary, by striving to conform your 
Own tastes and inclinations to your religious 
belief. 

§ 8. Observe, then, that this last is a kind of 
evidence which all Christians ought to have, and 
will have, more and more, in proportion as they 
fairly try the experiment of conforming themselves 
to the Gospel. Different persons may have been 
led by different kinds of proof, to embrace the 
Gospel: but when they have embraced it, they 
may all hope for this confirmation of their faith, 
by this further proof from experience. Suppose, 
for instance, some one should offer to several 
persons, suffering under a painful and dangerous 
disease, some medicine, which he declared would 


relieve their sufferings, and restore them to health VP 


it would be natural and reasonable for them to 


96 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


ask for some testimony or other proof, to assure 
them of this, before they made trial of the medi- 
cine then, suppose them all to be so fat .con- 
vinced,—some by one proof, and some by ano- 
ther,—as to make trial of the medicine; and 
that they found themselves daily getting better 
as they took it: they would then have—all of 
them—an evidence from experience, confirming 
the former proofs that had originally brought | 
them to make the trial. 

But these persons, if they were wise, would be 
convinced of the virtues of the medicine, not 
from its being immediately pleasant to the taste, 
or from its suddenly exciting and cheering them 
up like a strong cordial; but from its gradually 
restoring their strength, and removing the symp- 
toms of the disease, and advancing them daily 
towards perfect health. So also, Christian expe- 
rience, you should remember, does not consist in 
violent transports, or any kind of sudden and 
overpowering impression on the feelings; but in 
a steady, habitual, and continued improvement 
of the heart and the conduct. 

§ 9. We do not say, you will observe, that 
you, or other Christians, may not experience 
such sudden transporting impressions as those 
just alluded to. But it is a settled habit,—an 
improved and improving character,—that is the 
Christian experience which we find described and 
alluded to in the New Testament Scriptures ; 
which thus afford an additional internal evidence 
of their having been written by sober-minded 


. 
: 
’ 


XII.]. INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART III. 97 


men.* For the Apostles, if they had been wild 
enthusiasts, would have felt, and have taught 
their converts to expect the sudden excitement 
of vehement emotions; and would have referred 
to some immediate, single, and momentary im- 
pression of that kind, as Christian experience. 
But what they. do teach, and perpetually impress 
on us, is, “ He that is Christ’s, hath crucified the 
flesh with the affections and lusts :’—the test 
they refer to is, a “growth in grace and know- 
ledge,—a calm, gradual, and steady advancement 
in “bringing forth fruit with Patience.” (Luke 
vill. 15.) For ‘“ Patrence” (says St. Paul, 
Rom. v. 4) “worketh ExXpErrence; and Expe- 
rience, Hope; and Hope maketh not ashamed; 
because the love of God is shed abroad in our 
hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto 
us.” 


NOTE Az 


Wira regard to the passages here referred to, 
(and to which many more might have been added) 
you should observe that the picture they form of 
our Lord’s character cannot but be a correct 
one; because if He had really been at all a 
different kind of man from what He is represented, 
his enemies would not have failed to notice, and 
to take advantage of this. Now, not only do 
they never charge Him with any thing immoral, 


* See 2 Pet. i. 5; and 1 Thess. iv. 1; and Galat. vi. 9, &e. 


98 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


but He and His Apostles continually appeal to 
all men’s testimony as to the moral excellence of his 
character, as a matter undeniable and notorious. 

See John vii. 46—51, viii. 46, and x. 32; 
Matt. xxvi. 59, xxvii. 23, 24; Luke xxiii. 13— 
15; Acts iii. 138,14; 1 Peter ii: 31—923., 

And it should be observed that his moral 
teaching is to be regarded as an appeal of this 
kind; since if He had been guilty of any such 
moral wrong as He censured and rebuked, or had 
not been, Himself, a model of the virtues He 
taught, his enemies would have been sure to de- 
tect, and to reproach his inconsistency. 

His extensive BENEVOLENCE and compassionate- 
ness, are shown in the following (and many other) 
passages : John iv.; Luke ix. 55, and x. 30—37; 
Mark vii. 26, &c., and x. 13—21, and 45—52; 
Matt. ix. 36, &.; Luke xiii. 16, xiv. 12, &c., 
xxii. 50, 51, xxiv. 34; Matt. xviii. 11, &c. 

In reference to his kind and affectionate cha- 
racter, see John xi., xix. 25—27, &.; Luke xix. 
41, xxii. 61; Matt. xiv. 27—31. 

For indications of Mrrknzss and Humility, see 
Matt. ix. 28, xviii., xxvi. 50; John xiii. 4, &c; 
Matt. v. 1—12; Luke xxii. 24, &e. | 

For indications of Mora Covraag, firmness, 
and resignation, Luke iv. 23, &c., xiii. 31, &e., 
xviii. 29, &c.; John xi. 7, &c.; Mark x. 82, &e. ; 
Matt. xxvi. 39—46 ; John xviii. 4, &e. 

For indications of Stncrerrry, and abhorence of 
hypocrisy, and of courting popularity, Matt. vi. 
i—18, x. 16—389, xxii. 18, &c.; Mark xii. 38— 
4U ; Luke xi. 44, &.; John xvi. 1—6. 


XII.] INTERNAL EVIDENCES. PART II. 99 


For indications of MopERATION, and absence of 
all enthusiasm, and all affected austerity, Matt. xi. 
19, xxiii. 23; Luke v. 29—35; John ii. I, &e. ; 
Mark xii. 17. 

The passages above referred to contain a few 
out of many of the indications of a part,—and 
only a part,—of the virtues of our Lord’s charac- 
ter. Many others will strike you in your perusal 
of the Gospels with this view. 

But this study will affect different persons very 
unequally, according to their own character. 
Those of a low tone of moral sentiment, will be 
but little struck with the character of Jesus, 
Those of a somewhat higher and purer mind, will 
feel it more; especially, if they have also a con- 
siderable knowledge of mankind in general. And 
one who is,—like Nathanael,—“ an Israelite in- 
deed, in whomis no guile,” will (mentally) exclaim, 
like him, ‘‘ Rabbi, thou art the Son of God! 
Thou art the King of Israel !” 


¥ 


The following verses are taken from Bishop 
Hinds’s volume of Poetry. They were originally 
inscribed in a Bible presented to a child. 


A king ee aN wisdom pray’d; God gave the boon he 
sought; 

That king God’s law still disobeyed; he knew, but did it not, 

Ask thou, my child, a better boon; the wisdom from above; 

Nor think thy dawn of life too soon to learn a Saviour’s love, 

Pray for what passeth human skill, the power God’s will to do: 

Read thou that thou may’st do his will; and thou shalt know 
it too. 


And what, if much be still unknown ? thy Lord shall teach 
thee that, 


100 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ LESSON 


When thon shalt stand before his throne, or sit as Mary sat. 

Wait till He shall Himself disclose things now beyond thy 
reach. 

But listen not, my child, to those who the Lord’s secrets teach; 

Who teach thee more than He has taught; tell more than He 
reveal’d; 

Preach tidings which He never brought, and read what He 
left seal’d. 


LESSON XIII. 
OBJECTIONS. PART I. 


§ 1. As there are persons who reject the Chris- 
tian religion, you may perhaps suppose that they 
have undertaken to refute the proofs of it; and 
that they have found answers, such as satisfy them- 
selves, to the evidences and reasons on which it is 
believed: or at least to some of the principal of 
the reasons, such as have been just put before you. 

But you are not likely to meet with any one 
who will undertake this. At least, up to this 
time, no such attempt has been made in any book 
that has been hitherto published. Unbelievers. 
though they have had nearly eighteen centuries to 
try, have never yet been able to. show, or even 
attempted to show, how it could be that so many 
marks of truth should be found in the Gospel- 
history, supposing it false. Of these marks of 
truth, even that portion (though far short of the 
whole) which have been just laid before you, are 
such as certainly never met together, at least in 
any known false story; and how it is that they 


XIII. ] OBJECTIONS. PART I. 101 


are found in the Gospel-history, if that be not 
true, has never been explained. No one has ever 
explained in what way the first disciples of Jesus, 
circumstanced as they were, succeeded, or could 
have succeeded, in propagating as we know they 
did, such a religion as theirs, supposing it to be, 
not from God, but from man. 

§ 2. And yet many persons have written and 
spoken against Christianity. How then have they 
proceeded? Instead of accounting for the intro- 
duction of Christianity by natural causes, and on 
the supposition of its being a mere human device, 
they are accustomed to put forward various diffi- 
culties, and start objections against several points 
in the religion. And unlearned Christians often 
find themselves hard pressed with these objections ; 
and suppose that they are called upon either to 
find answers to every thing that can be urged 
against the Christian religion, and give a satis- 
factory solution of every difficulty that is pointed 
out, or else to abandon their faith; or, at least, 
confess that they cannot defend it. 

Now you have, indeed, been taught that it is a 
Christian’s duty to be ‘‘ready to give an answer 
to every one that asks a reason of the hope that 
is in you.” But this is a very different thing from 
being prepared to answer every objection. If a 
person asks you why you area Christian, or on 
what grounds you would call on a Pagan to em- 
brace Christianity, this is quite a different thing 
from his asking you, “ how can you explain this ?” 
‘‘and how do you reconcile that ?” “and how do 
you remove such and such difficulties ?” 

9x 


102 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [LESSON 


§ 8. I am not saying, you will observe, that no 
such qestions as these ought ever to be asked; or 
that there is no occasion to seek any answers to 
them; but only that they are not at all the same 
thing as the other question,—the inquiry for a 
reason of our Christian hope. And it should also 
be observed that it is not the most natural and 
reasonable way of examining any question to 
begin with looking to the objections against any 
system, or plan, or history, before we inquire into 
the reasons in its favor. And yet it is thus that 
some people are apt to proceed in the case of the 
Christian religion. Having been brought up in 
it from childhood, and received it merely as the 
religion of their fathers, they perhaps meet with 
some one who starts objections against several 
points; and then they think themselves obliged to 
find an answer to each objection, and to explain 
every difficulty in the Gospel system, without 
having begun by learning any thing of the posi- 
tive eyidence on which it is founded. And the 
end of this sometimes is that their minds are dis- 
turbed, and, perhaps, their faith overthrown, 
before they have even begun to inquire into the 
subject in the right way. 

Some persons will advise you, for fear of having 
your mind thus unsettled, to resolve at once never 
to listen to any objections against Christianity, or 
to make any inquiries, or converse at all on the 
subject with any one who speaks with any doubts 
or difficulties ; but to make up your mind once for 
all, to hold fast the faith you have been brought 
up in, on the authority of wiser men than yourself, 


XIII.] OBJECTIONS.” PART I. 103 


and never to attend to any reasoning on the sub- 
ject. ~ 

§ 4. You have already seen, that if our fore- 
fathers had gone upon this plan, we should at this 
day have been Pagans like them: and that if all 
the world had proceeded thus when the Apostles 
first appeared, all men would have kept to the re- 
ligion of their fathers, (as the chief part of the 
most learned, and the most powerful among them 
did,—see 1 Cor. i, 26,) and Christianity “would 
not have existed at all. And you ought to ob- 
serve also, that when a learned man says that or- 
dinary Christians had better shut their ears against 
ali doubts and arguments, and be satisfied to take 
the word of the learned for the truth of the reli- 
gion, a suspicion is often raised, that he does not 
really believe it himself, but wishes to support it 
for the sake of the lower classes; and considers 
that the less they think, and reason, and inquire, 
the less danger there is of their being undeceived. 
Such appears to have been, generally, the state 
of mind of the educated classes among the ancient 
heathen in respect of their religion. They thought 
it useful for the vulgar to believe in the fables 
about their gods; and being aware that these 
would not stand the test of examination, they did 
not approve of any inquiry on the subject. 
_ §5. But it is likely that many of those who 
discourage ordinary Christians from using their 
reason on the subject of Christian evidences, are 
not themselves unbelievers, but are merely timo- 
rous and distrustful, and see the dangers on one 
side, while they overlook those on the . other. 


104 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


They see that there is a danger of men making 
an ill use of their reason: which there certainly 
is, as well as of any other gift. The servant, in 
the parable, (Matt. xxv. 25, Luke xix. 20,) who 
was entrusted with one talent, might have em- 
ployed it ill, and lost it; but it was not, there- 
fore, the safe course to lay it by in a napkin. 
There is danger of the misuse of money, or of 
food. We know that many shorten their lives 
by intemperance. Yet food was bestowed for 
the support of life, and not for its destruction. 
And so, also, God has provided evidence to 
prove the truth of Christianity, and has given us 
the faculty of reason, by which we can understand 
that evidence; and what is more, He has ex- 
pressly directed us (1 Peter iii. 15) to make that 
use of the faculty. But in the use of all his gifts 
there is danger; which we cannot escape without 
diligent caution. And those who would guard 
men against the danger of doubt and disbelief, 
by discouraging the use of reason, are creating a 
much greater danger of the same kind, by the 
distrust which they manifest :—by appearing to 
suspect that their religion will not stand inquiry. 

§ 6. But is it, then, to be expected that you 
should be prepared to answer every objection 
that may be brought against your religion? By 
no means. You may have very good reason for 
believing something against which there are many 
objections; and objections which you cannot an- 
swer, for want of sufficient knowledge of the snb- 
ject. In many other cases besides that of reli- 
gion, there will be difficulties on both sides of a 


+ 


XIII. } OBJECTIONS. PART I 105 


question, which even the wisest man cannot clear 
up; though he may, perhaps, plainly see on 
which side the greater difficulties lie; and may 
even see good reasons for being fully satisfied 
which ought to be believed. Thus, in the case 
before mentioned, of the bed of sea-shells, found 
far above the present level of the sea, there are 
strong objections against supposing either that 
the sea was formerly so much higher than now, 
or that those beds were so much lower, and were 
heaved up, many hundred feet, to the height 
where they now lie. And yet no one who has 
examined and inquired into the subject, has any 
doubt that those beds of shells do exist, and 
must, at some former time, have been the bottom 
of a sea. : 

To take another instance: the astronomer Co- 
pernicus first taught, about three hundred years 
ago, that the earth (which had formerly been 
supposed to be at rest in the midst of the. uni- 
verse, with all the heavenly bodies moving round 
it) travels round the sun in the course of a year, 
and is at the same time turning also on its own 
axis,—that is, rolling over like a ball,—every 
twenty-four hours. This theory of his (which 
has long since been universally admitted) was at 
first met by many objections: several of which, 
neither he, nor any one else in those days, were 
able to answer. Many years afterwards, when 
astronomy was better understood, some objections 
were answered, and diffiulties explained. But 
there were others, of which no explanation could 
be found, till a very short time ago, in the me- 


106 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


mory of many persons now living. Yet, long 
before that time, notwithstanding the objections, 
there was no one at all acquainted with the sub- 
ject, who had any doubt of the earth’s motion. . 

§ 7. Again, it is perfectly well established, 
that aérolites,—that is, stones from the sky,— 
have fallen in various countries, and at different 
times, to a considerable number. They are com- 
posed of iron, or a peculiar kind of iron-stone, 
and are of all sizes, from a few ounces to several 
hundred weight. No explanation has been given 
of them that is at all satisfactory. There are 
strong objections against supposing them either 
to have been thrown out by volcanoes in the 
moon, or to be fragments torn off from some 
other planets, or to be formed in the air. In 
future generations, perhaps, when chemistry and 
astronomy are much improved, more may be 
known about these wonderful stones. But, in 
the mean time, the fact of their having fallen is 
so well attested by numerous witnesses, that in 
spite of all the difficulties, no one who has in- 
quired into the subject, has any doubt the thing 
has really occurred, however incredible it might 
have appeared. 

Then, again, if we look to human transactions, 
we shall find several portions of history, even 
those which no one has any doubt of, full of such 
strange events, that difficulties might be pointed 
out in the accounts of them, and strong objec- 
tions raised against the history, even when it 
rests on such satisfactory evidence as to be be- 
lieved in spite of those objections. In the his- 


~ 


XIII. ] OBJECTIONS. PART I. 107 


tory, for instance, of Europe for the last forty 
years, there are many events so improbable in 
themselves,—especially all that relate to the won- 
derful rise, and greatness, and overthrow, of the 
empire of Napoleon Buonaparte,—that it would 


_ be easy to find objections sufficient to convince 


many persons that the history could not be true, 
were it not that it is so well attested as to be 
believed notwithstanding all the difficulties. 

Numberless other examples might be brought, 
to show how many things there are which men 
believe,—and believe on very good grounds, in 
spite of strong and real objections, which they 
cannot satisfactorily answer; these being out- 
weighed by more and greater difficulties on the 
opposite side. 

§ 8. As for the particular objections which 
have been brought against the Christian religion, 
and the Christian Scriptures, it would, of course, 
be impossible to put before you, in a short com- 
pass, even the chief part of them, together with 
the answers that have been given. But what is 
of the most importance is, to lay down, generally, 
the right way of viewing objections, either against 
our religion, or against any thing else; namely, 
first, that you should not begin by considering 
the objections to any statement or system, before 
you are acquainted with the evidence in favor of 
it; and secondly, that you should not think your- 
self bound to renounce your faith, if you cannot 
answer every objection, and clear up every diffi- 
culty that may be raised; but should remember 
that many things are believed, and must be be- 


108 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


lieved, against which there are strong objections 
that have never been completely answered, when 
there are stronger objections against the opposite 
belief. 


LESSON XIV. 
ORJECTIONS. PART II. 


§ 1. OF the objections that have been brought 
against Christianity, there are some which ordi- 
nary Christians may learn enough to be able to 
refute for themselves. There are others, again, 
to which learned and able men have found an- 
swers, but which the generality of Christians can- 
not be expected to answer, or even to under- 
stand; and, again, there are other objections 
which no man, however learned, and however 
intelligent, can expect to answer fully, on account 
of the imperfect knowledge which belongs to 
man in this present life. For you are to observe, 
that when we speak of any one as having much 
knowledge and intelligence, we mean that he is 
so comparatively with other men; since the best 
informed man knows but few things, compared 
with those of which he is ignorant; and the 
wisest man cannot expect to understand all the 
works, and all the plans, of his Creator. Now 
this is particularly important to be kept in mind 
in the present case; because Christianity, we 
should remember, is a scheme imperfectly under- 
stood. What is revealed to us, must be (sup- 


® 


XIV. ] OBJECTIONS. PART IL. 109 


posing the religion to be true) but a part, and 
_perhaps but a small part, of the whole truth. 
There are many things of which at present we 
can know little or nothing, which have, or may 
have, a close connection with the Christian reli- 
gion. For instance, we are very little acquainted 
With more than a very small part of the unt- 
verse; of the whole history, past and future, of the 
world we inhabit; and of the whole of man’s 
existence. 

This earth is but a speck compared with the 
rest of the planets which move round the sun, 
together with the enormous mass of the sun 
itself; to say nothing of the other heavenly bo- 
dies. It is likely that all these are inhabited; 
and it may be, that the Gospel which has been 
declared to us may be but one small portion of 
some vast scheme which concerns the inhabitants 
of numerous other worlds. 

Then, again, we have no knowledge how long 
this our world is to continue. For aught we 
know, the Christian religion may not have existed 
a fifth part, or a fiftieth part of its whole time; 
and it may, perhaps, have not produced yet ones 
fiftieth of the effects it is destined to produce. 

And we know that as it holds out the hope of 
immortality beyond the grave, it is connected 
with man’s condition, not merely during his short 
life on earth, but for eternity. 

§ 2. Seeing, then, that Christianity, if true, 
must be a scheme so partially and imperfectly 
revealed to us, and so much connected with 
things of which man can have little or no know- 

10 


e 


110 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


ledge, we might have expected that difficulties 
should be found in it, which the wisest of men 
are unable to explain. And men truly wise are 
not surprised or disheartened at meeting with 
such difficulties; but are prepared to expect 
them from the nature of the case. 

The view which we have of any portion of a 
system, of which the whole is not before us, has 
been aptly compared to a map of an inland- 
country ; in which we see rivers without source 
or mouth, and roads that seem to lead to nothing. 
A person who knows any thing of geography, 
understands at once, on looking at such a map, 
that the sources and mouths of the rivers, and 
the towns which the roads lead to, are somewhere 
beyond the boundaries of the district; though he 
may not *know where they lie. But any one who 
was very ill-informed might be inclined presump- 
tuously to find fault with the map which showed 
him only a part of the course of the rivers and 
roads. And it is the same with any thing else, 
of which we see only a part, unless we recollect 
that it is but a part, and make allowance accord- 
ingly for our imperfect view of it. 

There is much truth, therefore, in the Scotch 
proverb, that “children and fools should never 
see half-finished works.” .They not only cannot 
guess what the whole will be when complete, 
but are apt to presume to form a judgment with- 
out being aware of their own ignorance. If you 
were to see for the first time the beginning of the 
manufacture of some of the commonest articles, 
such as, for instance, the paper that is before you, 


XIV.] OBJECTIONS. PART II. 111 


you would be at a loss, if you had never heard 
the process described, to guess what the work- 
man was going to make. You would see a great 
trough full of a liquid-like pap ; and would never 
think of such a thing as a sheet of paper being 
made from it. And if you were to see the first 
beginning of the building of a house or a ship, 
you would be very unfit to judge what sort of a 
work it would be when completed. 

And the same holds good, only in a greater 
degree, in respect to the plans of Divine wisdom. 
So small a portion of them is made known to us, 
that it would be strange if we did not find many 
difficulties,—such as man cannot expect to ex- 
plain,—in that portion which we do see. 

§ 3. Although, however, you must not expect 
to be able to answer all objections that may be 
brought, you will be able, in proportion as you 
improve in knowledge, and in the habit of reflect- 
ing and reasoning on the subject, to find satisfae- 
tory answers to many which at first sight may 
have appeared very perplexing. And in parti- 
cular, you will find that some difficulties in the 
Christian religion, which have been brought for- 
ward as objections to it, will appear to be, on 
the contrary, evidences in support of it. They 
may, indeed, still continue to be difficulties which 
you cannot fully explain, and yet may be so far 
from being objections against your faith, that they 
will even go to confirm it. 

For instance, the bad lives of many Christians, 
who profess to expect that Jesus Christ will judge 
them, and yet act in opposition to what He taught, 


112 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


and to the example He gave, is an objection which 
has often been brought forward by unbelievers, 
and which probably influences their minds more 
than any other. Here is a religion, they say, 
which professes to have been designed to work a 
- great reformation in man’s character, and yet we 
find the believers in this religion living as if there 
were no world but the present, and giving them- 
selves up to all the base and evil passions of 
human nature, just as the Heathen did. And 
besides those who are altogether careless and 
thoughtless about their religion, we find (they 
say) many who talk and think much of it, and 
profess great Christian zeal, and who yet live in 
hatred against their fellow Christians, indulging 
in envy, slander, strife, and persecution of one 
another; and all the time professing to be de- 
voted followers of One who taught them to love 
even their enemies, to return blessing for cursing, 
and to be known as his disciples by their love to- 
wards each other.* 

§ 4. Now it is certainly most mortifying and 
disheartening to a sincere Christian to find that 
his religion has produced hitherto so much less 
improvement among mankind than he might have 
been disposed to expect from it. And you should 
consider deeply what a double guilt Christians 
will have to answer for, whose life is such as to 
bring an ill-name on their religion; and who 
thus not only rebel against their Master, but lead 
others to reject Him. But when the evil lives 


* John xiii. 34, 


XIV.] OBJECTIONS. PART II. 113 


of so many Christians are brought as an objection 
against the Christian religion, you may reply, by 
asking whether this does not show how unlikely 
such a religion is to have been devised by man ? 
If you saw in any country the fields carefully 
ploughed and cleared, and sown with wheat, and 
yet continually sending up a growth of grass and 
thistles, which choked the wheat, wherever they 
were not weeded out again and again, you would 
not suppose wheat to be indigenous (that is, to 
grow wild) in that conntry; but would conclude 
that if the land had been left to itself, it would 
have produced grass and thistles, and no wheat 
at all. So also, when you see men’s natural cha- 
racter so opposite to the pure, and generous, and 
benevolent, and forgiving character of the Gos- 
pel, that even after they have received the Gospel, 
their lives are apt to be quite a contrast to 
Gospel virtue, you cannot think it likely that 
such a being as man should have been the inventor 
of such a religion as the Christian. 

§ 5. It is, indeed, strange that we should see 
men seeking to make amends for the want of 
Christian virtue by outward religious observances, 
aud by active zeal,—often, bitter and persecuting 
zeal,—in the cause of Christianity ; when the very 
founder of our faith has declared that He abbors 
such conduct ; so that such Christians, in profess- 
ing to be followers of Him, pronounce their own 
condemnation. This is certainly very strange ; 
but it shows, at least, how strong man’s natural 
tendency is to that error; and it shows, therefore, 
how much more incredible it is that men should 

10* 


114 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


themselves have devised a religion which thus con- 
demns their principles. All men, in short, and 
especially Christians, when they are leading an 
unchristian life, (I mean a life on unchristian 
principles; see p. 81,) are so far bearing witness 
that Christianity could not have come from men. 

And the same may be said of the absurd ex- 
travagances into which some fanatical enthusiasts 
have fallen; and which have given occasion to un- 
believers to throw ridicule on Christianity. There 
is nothing of this wild and extravagant character 
in our sacred books. On the contrary, their so- 
briety and calmness of tone presents a striking 
contrast to what we see in some enthusiasts. So 
that their absurdities, instead of being an objection 
against the Gospel, are a proof, on the contrary, 
what a different thing the Gospel would have been 
if it had been the work of enthusiasts. 

§ 6. To take another instance; it has been 
brought as an objection against Christianity that 
it has not spread over the whole world. It pro- 
fesses to be designed to enlighten and to improve 
all mankind; and yet, after nearly eighteen cen- 
turies there still remains a very large portion of 
mankind who have not embraced it. All the most 
civilized nations, indeed, profess the Christian re- 
ligion ; but there are many millions unconverted ; 
and the progress of the religion among these ap- 
pears to be very slow. This may be thought very 
Strange and unaccountable; but at least it shows 
that the religion could not have been originally 
founded and propagated by mere human means, 
The natious professing Christianity are now far 


XIV. ] OBJECTIONS. PART IL. 115 


more powerful and intelligent, and skillful in all the 
arts of life, than the rest of mankind; and yet 
tnough they send forth many active and zealous 
missionaries, the religion makes less progress 
in a century than it did in a few years, when 
it was preached by a handful of Jewish peasants 
and fishermen, with almost all the wealthy, and 
powerful, and learned, opposed to them. We 
cannot come near them in the work of conversion, 
though we have every advantage over them ex- 
cept in respect of miraculous powers. And, 
therefore, we have an additional proof, that if 
they had not had such powers, they could not 
have accomplished what they did. 

§ 7. Again, there are objections against our 
sacred books, occasioned by the mistake of some 
injudicious Christians, who have taken a wrong 
view of the object proposed in the Bible. 

These persons imagine, and teach others to 
imagine, that we are bound to take our notions 
of astronomy, and of all other Physical Sciences, 
from the Bible. And, accordingly, when astrono- 
mers discovered, and proved, that the earth turns 
round on its axis, and that the sun does not move 
round the earth, some cried out against this as 
profane, because Scripture speaks of the sun’s 
rising and setting. And this probably led some 
astronomers to reject the Bible, because they were 
taught that if they received that as a divine reve- 
lation, they must disbelieve truths which they had 
demonstrated. 

So, also, some have thought themselves bound 
to believe, if they receive Scripture at all, that the 


116 CURISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


earth, and all the plants and animals that ever 
existed on it must have been created within six 
days, of exactly the same length as our present 
days. And this, even before the sun, by which 
we measure our days, is recorded to have been 
created. Hence the discoveries made by geolo- 
gists, which seem to prove that the earth and 
various races of animals must have existed a very 
long time before man existed, have been repre- 
sented as completlely inconsistent with any belief 
in Scripture. 

It would be unsuitable to such a work as this 
to discuss the various objections (some of them 
more or less plausible, and others very weak) that 
have been brought—on grounds of science, or 
supposed science—against the Mosaic accounts of 
the Creation—of the state of the early world—and 
of the flood, and to bring forward the several 
answers that have been given to those objections. 
But it is important to lay down the PRINCIPLE on 
which either the Bible or any other writing or 
speech ought to be studied and understood ; 
namely, with a reference to the object proposed by 
the writer or speaker. 

For example ; suppose you bid any one proceed 
in a straight line from one place to another, and 
to take care to arrive before the sun goes down. 
He will rightly and fully understand you, in re- 
ference to the practical object which alone you 
had in view. Now, you perhaps know very well 
that there cannot be a straight line on the surface 
of the earth, which is a sphere, [ globe; ] and that 
the sun does not really go down, only, our portion 


XIV. ] OBJECTIONS. PART II. 117 


of the earth is turned away from it. But whether 
the other person knows all this or not, matters 
nothing at all, with reference to your present 
object; which was not to teach him mathematics 
or astronomy, but to make him conform to your 
directions, which are equally intelligible to the 
learned and the unlearned. 

Now the object of the Scripture revelation is 
to teach men, not Astronomy, or Geology, or any 
other physical science, but religion. Its design 
was to inform men not in what manner the world 
was made, but WHO made it; and to lead them to 
worship Him, the Creator of the heavens and the 
earth, instead of worshiping his creatures, the 
heavens and earth themselves, as gods ; which is 
what the ancient heathen actually did. 

Although, therefore, Scripture gives very scanty 
and imperfect information respecting the earth 
and the heavenly bodies, and speaks of them in 
the language and according to the notions, of the 
people of a rude age, still it fully effects the ob- 
ject for which it was given, when it teaches that 
the heavens and the earth are not gods to be wor- 
shiped, but that ‘‘ God created the heavens and 
the earth,” and that itis He who made the various 
tribes of animals, and also man. 

But as for astronomy and geology and other 
sciences, men were left—when once sufficiently 
civilized to be capable of improving themselves— 
to make discoveries in them by the exercise of 
their own faculties. 

§ 8. But, it is also sometimes objected that our 
sacred books do not give any full and clear reve- 


. 


118 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


lation of several very interesting particulars, which 
men would naturally wish and expect to find in 
them. For example, there is not only a very 
short and scanty account of the creation of the 
world, and of its condition before the flood; but 
there is little said about angels ; and, what is more 
remarkable, there is no full and particular descrip- 
tion given of a future state, and of the kind of life 
which the blest are to lead in heaven. All these, 
and especially the last, are very curious and inter- 
esting matters; and being beyond the reach of 
man to discover, it appears-very strange to some 
persons, that books professing to contain a divine 
revelation should give so very brief and scanty an 
account of them, and leave such a natural curi- 
osity unsatisfied. 

Now this is a difficulty which you may hereafter, 
on attentive reflection, be able completely to ex- 
plain. You may find good reasons for deciding 
that this absence of all that goes to gratify mere 
curiosity, is just what might be expected in a reve- 
lation really coming from God. But you may 
perceive at once that it is not to be expected in a 
pretended revelation devised by men. An im- 
postor seeking to gain converts by pretending to 
have received a divine revelation, would have 
been sure to tempt the curiosity of the credulous 
by giving them a full description of matters inter- 
esting to human minds. He would have sought 
to excite their feelings and amuse their imagina- 
tions, by dwelling with all his eloquence on all 
the particulars of a future state, and on the nature 
and history of good and evil angels, and all those 


XIV. ] OBJECTIONS. PART II. 119 


other things which are so scantily revealed in our 
Scriptures. And a wild enthusiast again, who 
should have mistaken his dreams and fancies for 
a revelation from heaven, would have been sure 
to have his dreams and fancies filled with things 
relating to the invisible world; on which a (lis- 
eased imagination is particularly apt to run wild. 

Even though you should be unable, therefore, 
to understand why the Scriptures should be such 
as they are in this respect, supposing them to come 
from God, you may, at least, perceive that they are 
not such as would have come from man. In this, 
as well as in many other points, they are just the 
reverse of what might have been expected from 
impostors or enthusiasts. 

§ 9. Lastly, it is worth while to remember that 
all the difficulties of Christianity, which have been 
brought forward as objections against it, are so 
far evidences in its favor, that the religion was 
introduced and established in spite of them atl. 
Most of the objections which are brought forward 
in these days, had equal foree—and some of them 
much greater force—at the time when the religion 
was first preached. And there were many others 
besides, which do not exist now; especially what 
is called ‘‘the reproach of the Cross ;” the scorn 
felt towards a religion whose founder suffered a 
kind of death in those days reckoned the most dis- 
graceful; and whose followers were almost all of 
them men of obscure station, of low birth, poor, 
unlearned, and without worldly power. 

Yet in spite of all this the religion prevailed. 
And that it should have made its way as it did, 


120 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


against so many obstacles and difficulties, and ob- 
jections, is one of the strongest proofs that it 
must have had some supernatural means of over- 
coming them, and that, therefore, it must have 
come from God. 


LESSON XV. 
MODERN JEWS. PART 


§ 1. One of the difficulties with which the 
minds of some Christians are perplexed, is, that 
Jesus Christ should have been rejected by the 
greater part of his countrymen, the Jews; and 
that they who had been, according to our Scrip- 
tures, for so many ages, God’s favored and pecu- 
liar people, should be, now, and for about seven- 
teen centuries, without a country, and scattered 
as outcast strangers through the world. 

Their present condition and past history are 
indeed something very extraordinary, and quite 
unlike what has befallen any other nation. But 
though we may not be able to explain all the cir- 
cumstances relative to this wonderful people, it 
will be found on reflection that they furnish one 
of the strongest evidences for the truth of the very 
religion which they reject. 

You know that when the Jews received the law 
through Moses, they were promised success and 
prosperity as long as they should obey the Lord; 
and that heavy judgments were denounced against 
them in case of disobedience. It was foretold that 


XV. ] MODERN JEWS. PART I. 121 


they should be defeated by their enemies, driven 
from their country, scattered abroad and continu- 
ally harrassed and oppressed. These threats are 
set forth in various parts of the books of Moses, 
and most particularly in the twenty-eighth chap- 
ter of Deuteronomy. ‘Thou shalt become an 
astonishment, a proverb and a byword among all 
the nations whither the Lord shall lead thee... The 
Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the 
plagues of thy seed, even great plagues of long 
continuance... And the Lord shall scatter thee 
among all people from one end of the earth even 
unto the other.”—ver. 37, 59, 64. 

And the same is to be found in various parts of 
the writings of several of the prophets who lived 
some ages after. In particular, there is one in 
Ezekiel, which agrees most remarkably in one 
very curious particular, with the state of the Jews 
at this day ; namely, where he declares that they 
should, in-the midst of their sufferings, remain a 
distinct people, unmixed with and unlike other 
nations ; although it appears that, in his time, they 
were very much disposed to unite themselves with 
the rest of mankind, so as to become one of the 
Gentile nations, and to lay aside all the distine- 
tions of their own race. ‘‘ That which cometh into 
your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will 
be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, 
to serve wood and stone.” (Hzekiel xx. 32.) 

§ 2. Now we find in the Old Testament, that 
in several instances, these judgments did fall on 
the Jews; and especially when they were carried 
away captive to Babylon. And some persons 

ig 


122 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


may suppose that these instances were all that 
Moses and the prophets had in view. But what- 
ever any one’s opinion may be, it is a fact of which 
there can be‘no doubt, that the Jewish nation are 
actually suffering, at this day, such things as 
Moses and the prophets predicted. Whether 
Moses and Ezekiel had in view what is now taking 
place, or not, may be a matter of opinion; but it 
is a matter of fact, that what is now taking place 
does agree with their predictions. Jerusalem and 
its Temple were taken and burnt by the Romans 
about forty years after the crucifixion of Jesus 
Christ. The Jews were driven from their country, 
and never allowed to settle in it again. Hundreds 
of thousands were sold as slaves; and the whole 
people were cast forth as wanderersamong the Gen- 
tiles; and they have ever since remained a nation of 
exiles, unsettled, harassed, and oppressed, in many 
instances most cruelly, not only by Pagans and 
Mohammedans, but also (to our shame be it 
spoken) by Christian nations; and still remaining 
a distinct people, though without a home. 

§ 3. One of the most remarkable points relative 
to these predictions respecting the Jews, and their 
present condition, is this: that the judgments 
spoken of by Moses, were threatened in case of 
their departing from the law which he delivered, 
and especially, in case of their worshiping false 
gods; and yet, though in former times they were 
so apt to fall into idolatry, they have always, since 
the destruction of Jerusalem, steadily kept clear 
of that sin; and have professed to be most scru- 
pulous observers of the law of Moses. And what 


XV. MODERN JEWS. PART I. 123 


is more, all the indignities and persecutions that 
any of them are exposed to, appear to be the con- 
sequence of their keeping to their religion, and 
not of their forsaking it. For a Jew has only to 
give up his religion, and conform to that of the 
country he lives in, whether Christian, Moham- 
medan, or Pagan, and lay aside the observances 
of the law of Moses, and he immediately ceases to 
be reproached as a Jew, and an alien, and is 
mingled with the people around him. So that 
the Jews of the present day seem to be suffering 
for their observance of the law, just the penalties 
threatened for their departure from it. 

At first sight this seems very hard to explain ; 
but, on reflection, you will find the difficulty 
cleared up, in such a way as to afford a strong 
confirmation of your faith. First, you should 
observe, that the Jews themselves admit that a 
Christ or Messiah was promised them; and that 
to reject Him on his coming would be an act of 
rebellion against the Lord their God. Moses 
foretold that the Lord should raise up from 
among them a Prophet like Moses himself; and 
“whosoever should not hear that Prophet,” God 
“would require it of him;” and “that he should 
be destroyed from among the people.” (Deut. 
xviii. 15—19; Acts iii. 22, 23.) This is gene- 
rally understood (as it is applied in the Acts) to , 
relate to the Messiah or Christ ; whom the other 
prophetical writers of the Old Testament (as 
both Christians and Jews are agreed) more par- 
ticularly foretold and described. Now we hold 
that the Jews have been guilty of this very act 


124 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. ~ [LESSON 


of disobedience in rejecting the Christ. And 
though they, of course, do not confess themselves 
thus guilty, because they deny that Jesus of Na- 
zareth was the true Christ, yet they so far agree 
with us as to acknowledge that the rejecting of 
the true Christ on his coming would be such a 
sin as would expose them to the judgments which. 
Moses threatened. 

To us, therefore, who do believe in Jesus, this 
affords an explanation of their suffering these 
judgments. 

§ 4. But, secondly, besides this, you will per- 
ceive, on looking more closely, that the Jews of 
these days do not really observe the law of Moses, 
though they profess and intend to do so. They 
have, indeed, kept to the faith of their fore- 
fathers; but not to their religious observances. 
For, the chief part of the Jewish worship con- 
sisted in offering sacrifices distinctly appointed 
by the Lord Himself, in the law delivered by 
Moses. There was a sacrifice appointed to be 
offered up every day, and two on the Sabbath ; 
besides several other sacrifices on particular occa- 
sions. Now, the modern Jews, though they ab- 
stain from certain meats forbidden in their law, 
and observe strictly the Sabbath and several 
other ordinances, yet do not offer any sacrifices 
at all; though sacrifices were appointed as the 
chief part of their worship. 

The reason of this is, that they were strictly 
forbidden to offer sacrifices except in the one 
place which should be appointed by the Lord for 
that purpose. And the place last fixed on for 


Oey MODERN JEWS. PART I. 125 - 


these offerings having been the Temple at Jeru- 
salem, which was destroyed about seventeen hun- 
dred years ago, and has never been restored, the 
Jews are now left without any place in which 
they can lawfully offer the sacrifices which their 
law enjoins. 

§5. The Jews, accordingly, of the present 
day, plead that it is not from willful disobedience 
that they neglect these ordinances, but because 
they cannot help it. But to say that it is not 
their own fault that they do not observe the ordi- 
nances of their religion, is quite a different thing, 
from saying that they do observe them. They 
may explain why they cannot keep the law of 
Moses ; but they cannot say that they do keep it. 

Now Christians hold that the cerenionies of 
that law were not originally designed to be ob- 
served by all nations, and for ever :—that ‘the 
law had only a shadow of good things to come,” 
(Heb. x. 1,) that is of the Gospel; and that it 
was designed that the sacrificing of lambs and 
bullocks should cease at the coming of the Christ. 
A Jew, on the contrary, will not allow that these 
were designed ever to cease; but he cannot deny 
that they have ceased, and that, for above seven- 
teen centuries. Let a Jew explain, if he can, 
how it is that for so long a time Providence has 
put it out of the power of the Jews to observe the 
principal part of their religion, which they main- 
tain was intended to be observed for ever. 

§ 6. And this also is very remarkable; that 
the religion of the Jews is almost the only one 
that could have been abolished against the will 

11* 


126 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


of the people themselves, and while they resolve 
firmly to maintain it. Zhezr religion, and theirs 
only, could be, and has been, thus abolished in 
spite of their firm attachment to it, on account 
of its being dependent on a particular place,— 
the Temple at Jerusalem. The Christian reli- 
gion, or again, any of the Pagan religions, could 
not be abolished by any force of enemies, if the 
persons professing the religion were sincere and 
resolute in keeping to it. To destroy a Christian 
place of worship, or to turn it into a Mohamme- 
dan mosque, (as was done in many instances by 
the Turks,) would not prevent the exercise of 
the Christian religion. And even if Christianity 
were forbidden by law, and Christians persecuted, 
(as has in times past been actually done,) still if 
they were sincere and resolute, they might assem- 
ble secretly in woods or caves; or they might fly 
to foreign countries to worship God according to 
their own faith; and Christianity, though it might 
be driven out of one country, would still exist in 
others. , 

§ 7. And the same may be said of the Pagan 
religions. If it happened that any temple of 
Jupiter, or Diana, or Woden, were destroyed, 
this would not hinder the worshipers of those 
gods from continuing to worship them as before, 
and from offering sacrifices to them elsewhere. 

But it was not so with the Jews. Their reli- 
gion was so framed as to make the observance of 
its ordinances impossible, when their Temple was- 
finally destroyed. It seems to have been designed 
and contrived by Divine Providence, that as their 


=e 


XVI.] MODERN JEWS. PART II. 127 


law was to be brought to an end by the Gospel, 
(for which it was a preparation,) so all men were 
to perceive that it did come to an end, notwith- 
standing the obstinate rejection of the Gospel by 
the greater part of the Jews. It was not left to 
be a question, and a matter of opinion, whether 
the sacrifices instituted by Moses were to be con- 
tinued or not; but things were so ordered, as to 
put it out of man’s power to continue them. 


LESSON XVI. 
MODERN JEWS. PART II. 


§ 1. Ir is likely that when Jerusalem and 
its Temple were destroyed, several of the Jews 
who had till then rejected the Gospel, may have 
been at length converted, by the strong additional 
evidence which was thus afforded. They saw the 
heavy judgment that fell on their nation; and 
that it was such as to make the observance of 
their law impossible. They saw, also, that the 
event agreed with what Jesus had predicted forty 
years before. And they saw, too, that those of 
his followers who had been living in Jerusalem, 
had been enabled to escape destruction by follow- 
ing his directions, and fleeing to the mountains 
as soon as they saw Jerusalem encompassed by 
an army. It is, therefore, likely that several may 
have been led by this aditional evidence to em- 
brace the Christian faith. But of this we have 


128 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


no records; as the book of Acts takes in only an 
earlier period. And in that book we have no 
particulars of the numbers of those Jews who 
were converted; though it appears they must 
have amounted to many thousands; indeed, many 
myriads; that is, tens of thousands; as is said 
in the original Greek of Acts xxi. 20. But still 
these made but a small portion only of that great 
nation, And as the Jewish Christians would 
soon become mingled with the Gentile Christians, 
and cease to be a separate people, hence all those 
who are known as Jews at this day, are the 
descendants of those who rejected the Gospel. 

These are computed to amount, at the present 
time, notwithstanding the prodigious slanghter of 
them, at the taking of their city, and on several 
other occasions, to uo less a number than 4,800, 
000, scattered through various parts of the world ; 
every where mixing and trading with other na- 
tions ; but every where kept distinct from them by 
their peculiar faith and religious observances, 
And every where they preserve and read with 
the utmost reverence their sacred books, which 
foretell the coming of the Messiah, or Christ, at a 
time which (by their own computations) is long 
since past, namely, about the time when Jesus did 
appear. Their books foretell, also, such judg- 
ments as their nation is suffering ; and foretell too, 
what is most remarkable, that notwithstanding all 
this they shall still remain a separate people, un- 
mixed with the other nations. 

§ 2. You should observe, too, that these pro- 
phecies are such as no one would ever haye made 


XVI] MODERN JEWS. PART II. 129 


by guess. Nothing could have been more unlikely 
than the events which have befallen the Jewish 
nation. Nothing like them has ever been fore- 
told of any other nation; or has ever happened 
to any other. There are, indeed, many cases re- 
corded in history, of one nation conquering an- 
other, and either driving them out of the country, 
or keeping them in subjection. But in all these 
cases the conquered people who have lost their 
country, either settle themselves in some other 
land, or if they are wholly dispersed, generally 
become gradually mixed and blended with other 
nations ; as, for example, the Britons and Saxons, 
and Danes and Normans, have been mixed up into 
one people in England. 

The only people who at all resemble the Jews, 
in having been widely dispersed, and yet remain- 
ing distinct, are those commonly called Gipsies, 
and whose proper name is Zinganies, or Jinganies. 
It has been made out that they are an East-In- 
dian nation, speaking a Hindoo dialect. And 
they are widely scattered through the world, keep- 
ing up their language, and some customs of their 
own, in ali the countries through which they wander. 
They are certainly a very remarkable people; and 
if there had been any prophecy (which there was 
not) of their being thus dispersed, we might well 
have believed that such a prophecy must have 
come from inspiration. 

But in some remarkable points their condition 
differs from that of the Jews, and is less unac- 
countable. 

First, they do not (like the Jews) live in towns 


130 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


among other men, and in houses; but dwell in 
tents, by the roadsides, and on commons; lead- 
ing the life of strolling tinkers, pedlars, and for- 
tune-tellers. This roaming life, of course, tends 
to keep them separate from the people ‘of the 
countries in which they are found. 

§ 3. But, secondly, the chief difference is, that 
the Gipsies are always ready, when required, to 
profess the religion of the country, whether Chris- 
tian or Mohammedan, or any other; seeming to 
have no religion of their own, and to be quite in- 
different on the subject. The Jews, on the con- 
trary, always, when they are allowed, settle in 
towns along with other men ; and are kept distinct 
from them by their religion, and nothing else. 
They are the only people who are every where 
separated from the people of the country in which 
they live, entirely by their jeculiar faith and re- 
ligious observances: and that, too, though their 
religion is such (which is the strongest point of all) 
that the most importaut part of its ordinances— 
the sacrifices ordained in their law—cannot be 
observed by them. 

The Jews, therefore, in their present condition, 
are a kind of standing miracle ; being a monument 
of the wonderful fulfillment of ‘the most extraordi- 
nary prophecies that were ever delivered; which 
prophecies they themselves preserve and bear wit- 
ness to, though they shut their eyes to the fulfillment 
ofthem. No other account than this of the present 
state and past history of the Jews ever has been, 
or can be given, that is not open to objections 


-XVI.] MODERN JEWS. PART II. 131 


greater than all the objections put together that 
have ever been brought against Christianity. 

§ 4. This, then, as well as several other diffi- 
culties in our religion, such as have been formerly 
mentioned, will be found, on examination, to be, 
—even when you cannot fully explain them,—not 
so much objections against the truth of your re- 
ligion, as confirmations of it. 

And when you do meet with any objection which 
you are at a loss to answer, you should remember, 
(as has been above said,) that there are many 
things which all men must believe, in spite of real 
difficulties which they cannot explain, when there 
are much greater difficulties on the opposite side, 
and when sufficient proof has been offered. 

And in the present case, you have seen that it 
is not only difficult, but impossible, to account for 
the rise and prevalence of the Christian religion, 
supposing it not to have come from God. It cer- 
tainly was introduced and propagated, (which no 
other religion ever was ; for the religion taught by 
Moses we acknowledge as a part of our own) by 
an appeal to the evidence of miracles. Nothing 
but the display of supernatural powers could have 
gained even a hearing for the Apostles; sur- 
rounded as they were by adversaries prejudiced 
against their religion by their early education, and 
habits of thought, and inclinations, and hopes. 
And these supernatural powers were, as you. have 
seen, acknowledged at the time by those adver- 
saries, who were driven to attribute the Christian 
miracles to magic arts. 

And you have seen, too, that the religion itself, 


132 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [Lesson , 


and the character of Jesus Christ as drawn in the 
Christian Scriptures, and the whole of the narra- 
tive of those books, are quite different, and, 
indeed, opposite, to what might have been ex- 
pected from impostors or enthusiasts. 

§ 5. And lastly, you have seen that many of 
the difficulties that have been brought as objec- 
tions against Christianity, turn out, on careful 
inquiry, to be an additional evidence of its truth. 

Among others, this is remarkably the case with 
the difficulties relating to the history and condi- 
tion of the Jewish nation. Though you may not 
be able fully to explain all the circumstances re- 
lating to that wonderful people, you may learn 
from them, what they refuse to learn from them- 
selves, a strong proof of the truth both of their 
Scriptures, and of the Gospel which they obsti- 
nately reject. It is so ordered by Providence 
that even that very obstinacy is made to furnish an 
additional proof of Christianity ; by setting them 
forth before all the world as a monument of ful- 
filled prophecy, 

§ 6. There are several other instructions and 
warnings also, which you may learn from atten- 
tively reflecting on the case of the Jews: and I 
will conclude by shortly mentioning a few of these. 

First,—You should remember that when you 
see the Jews, both formerly and now, obstinately 
keeping to the faith of their forefathers, merely 
because it is what they were brought up in, and 
refusing to listen to any reasoning on the subject 
of religion, a Christian has no right to wonder at, 
or to blame them, if he does the same thing him- 


XVI. ] MODERN JEWS. PART II. 133 


self; that is, if he is satisfied to take upon trust 
whatever he may have been told, and is resolved 
neither to seek nor to listen to any arguments that 
may enable him “to give a reason of the hope 
that is in him.” And the same may be said of 
Mohammedans and Pagans, as well as of Jews. 
Though the Christian happens to have a religion 
that is right, he is not more right than they if he 
goes on the same plan as they do. At least, he 
is right only by chance, if he holds a faith that is 
true, not because it is true, but merely because it 
is that of his forefathers. 

§ 7. Secondly,—You should remember that 
we are apt to make much less allowance for the 
unbelieving Jew than for Christians who lead an 
unchristian life; and that we ought to do just the 
contrary. 

It is difficult for us, of these days, to under- 
stand and fully enter into the great difficulty 
which the Jews had (and still have) in overcoming 
all the prejudices they had been brought up in, 
and which were so flattering to their own nation, 
as God’s favored people. It was a hard task for 
them to wean themselves from all the hopes and 
expectations of temporal glory and distinction to 
that nation ; hopes which they and their ancestors 
had cherished for so many ages. No doubt it 
was a grievous sin in them to give way to those 
prejudices, and to reject the Christ as they did. 
But it is a greater sin to acknowledge Him, as 
some Christians do, as their Lord and Master, 
and to “believe that He shall come to be our 
judge, and at the same time to take no care to 
; 12 


134 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. [ Lesson 


obey his precepts, and copy the pattern of his 
life. This is more truly impiety than that with 
which an infidel is chargeable. For suppose two 
men each received a letter from his father, giving 
directions for his children’s conduct; and that 
one of these sons, hastily, and without any good 
grounds, pronounced the letter a forgery, and 
refused to take any notice of it; while the other 
acknowledged it to be genuine, and laid it up 
with great reverence, and tlien acted without the 
least regard to the advice and commands con- 
tained in the letter; you would say that both of 
these men indeed were very wrong; but the lat- 
ter was much the more undatiful son of the two. - 

Now this is the case of a disobedient Christian, 
as compared with infidels. He does not, like 
them, pronounce his father’s letter a forgery ; 
that is, deny the truth of the Christian revelation ; 
but he sets at defiance in his life, that which he 
acknowledges to be the Divine commaud. 

§ 8 Lastly, you should remember that no 
argument you can bring against unbelievers, will 
have greater weight with most of them, than a 
Christian life; and nothing, again, will be more 
likely to increase and confirm their unbelief, than 
to see Christians living in opposition to the pre- 
cepts and spirit of the Gospel; and especially to 
see them indulgiug bitter and unkind and hostile 
and uncharitable feelings towards their fellow- 
creatures, and even their fellow-Christians. 

The objection thence raised against the Chris- 
tian religion, is indeed (as has been above said) 
not a real and sound one; but still it will be 


CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 135 


raised; and therefore you cannot too carefully 
consider how much you will have to answer for, 
if you contribute to bring an ill name on your 
Christian faith; and if you do not, on the con- 
trary, endeavor to the utmost, “to adorn the 
doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” 


The following Lins, suggested by the perusal 
of the last two Lessons, have been inserted with 
the writer’s permission : 


1 


In all its holy splendor, amidst unclouded skies, 

With God for its defender, the glorious City lies. 

In pride of strength and beauty its towers and temples shine, 
As glorying in their duty to their Governor divine. 

Set in her lofty station, like a highly polished gem, 

The light of all the Nation, the bright Jerusalem ! 


2 


Now big with expectation, from the fullness of the time, 
Intent the mighty nation awaits a promised sign: 

For it is known with certainty from Prophecies of old, 
That the Deliverance is nigh through ages long foretold: 
“That in Israel’s land the Ruler shall never want a home, 
“ Nor the Sceptre cease from Judah until the Shiloh come.” 


3 


The Shiloh sent to break the yoke from off the Jewish neck, 

And destined by a timely stroke the Roman power to check. 

The Conqueror whose mighty hand shall burst the foreign 
chain, 

And bring deliverance to the land—a long and glorious reign! 

So feverish the hope has grown! so earnest is the sigh! 

For well and truly it is known deliverance is nigh! 


4 


Lo! where the crowd assemble in long and proud array, 
Behold the gorgeous Temple to which they wend their way! 


a 


136 ; CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 


How polished are its corners! how perfect every part! 
Most surely its adorners had more than human art. 

Within that consecrated space, ere the first Temple fell, 
Jehovah found a resting-place, for there He deigned to dwell! 


5 


That crowd is Levi’s chosen race, the son and father too, 

All wending to the holy place, their wonted work to do. 

A tribe from generations, as histories record, 

Alone from all the nations, ordained to serve the Lord! 

Amid this holy band of men is heard the busy huam— 

** How vast will be our nation then, when our great Prince 
shall come !” 


6 
What can this spreading rumor be that soars on doubtful 
wing ?— 
A peasant! and from Galilee! proclaims himself a King! 
With a poor train of fishermen, unlearned—feeble—few, 
He preaches boldly unto men of a religion new. 
“That peace on earth is given! that enmity shall cease; 
“And that he is sent from Heaven to proclaim a reign of 
Peace.” . 


7 


Is this then the event and end of Israel’s cherished creed ? 

Will God a powerless Saviour send in Judah’s hour of need? 

Yet the tidings that he preaches are merciful and mild, 

He is pure in all he teaches, and guileless as a child: 

His word dispels each human ill that haunts the sick man’s 
bed; 

Demons are subject to his will! His voice revives the dead! 

And though no mortal can pretend such mystery to scan, 

He seems to seek no other end beside the good of man! 


8 


Can this be the Messiah then? is this the warrior King, 
Sent to protect Jerusalem beneath his mighty wing? 

How shall such Prince be able to break the Roman yoke? 
It cannot be a fable that all the Prophets spoke! 

Can such unwarlike arm as his bid Judah’s thraldom cease? 
How can a Ruler such as this proclaim a reign of peace? 


CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. _ 187 


¥ s 

9 ¢ 
See how the crowds are pouring in wnt: he goes along! 
The puny train of fishermen is lost amid the throng! 
Ye Priests and Levites, keep your guard, else shall ye see 

the day 

Wherein the people of the Lord will all be gone astray. 
’Tis true the Powers of evil before his presence flee, 
But ’tis their Prince the Devil who lends his agency. 


10 


Down with the low pretender, ere his miracles and cures 
Procure him a defender in the crowd that he allures. 

Seek pardon for the robber’s crime, but lead this man away— 
- Allow him not a further time to lead the folk astray. 

If Romans fear his blood to shed, be ours the whole disgrace ; 
His blood be ever on the head of all the Jewish race! 


11 


Now pass we by that fatal morn whereon that Peasant died, 
An object of contempt and scorn, with thieves on either side! 
The sun itself refused to shine on Judah’s guilty plain ; 

The City shook! and in the shrine the veil was rent in twain. 
What can such awful portents be? Do they confirm the word, 
That he, the man of Galilee, is Judah’s promised Lord? 


" 


12 


Ere long about the sacred walls is heard the din of arms; 

A Roman host each heart appals with horrid war’s alarms. 
Now on the massive walls on high, now striving hand to hand, 
The Jewish race but fights to die; none can the foe withstand! 
Until the sacred Sion,—for now the gates they close,— 
Stands like a hunted lion at bay amidst her foes! 


13 


Behold the cruel siege extend o’er weary months and years! 

When will our God the Saviour send to this our vale of tears ? 
In vain the Roman nation shall fight against the Lord! 

We wait for our salvation! for written is the word, 

“That in Israel’s land the Ruler shall never want a home, 

“ Nor the Sceptre cease from Judah till the Redeemer come, 


12* 


138 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 


14 


Oh for the desperation that racks the City now! ; 
Within the walls starvation—the Roman ower below! 

A matron of the City with famished fury wild, 

Lost e’en to sense of pity, devours her infant child! 

The fullness of their misery what language can record? 
*Tis the stern voice of prophecy—the never-failing word! 


15 


A still more awful story that frantic ery proclaims, 
The temple and its glory are given to the flames! 

The abode of our Jehovah is departing from our race— 
Is there no power to cover the temple from disgrace ? 


The fire has laid the temple low! the sword its work has done! 
Where is the glorious nation now? where is the Sceptre gone? 


16 


Near twenty centuries have passed, now look we once again 

To where the City stood—Alas! what means that ghastly 
plain ? 

Where is that highly polished gem that once so brightly shone? 

*Twas crushed with Jvdah’s diadem, its sacred light is gone! 

Where are the great and goodly stones that fenced the holy 
Fane? 

Gone! They have perished as the bones of Sion’s warriors 
slain. 

That Peasant did not say in vain, that not a single stone 

Of all the Temple should remain that should not be o’erthrown. 


17 


And where is now the fallen race? Did any yet remain 
That failed to find a resting-place amid the heaps of slain? 
Did any of the priests survive the ruin of their shrine? 
Surely the Sons of Judah live to prove the truth divine, 
That since that Man of Galilee so cruelly was slain, 
Dispersed should all the Nation be, ne’er to unite again ! 


18 


Seek we to know what land contains, since those sad days 
of yore, 
All that of Jewish Race remains, now Sion is no more? 


CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. 139 


a 


Though Judah’s Nation never yet has found again a place, 
The sun is never known to set upon the Jewish Race! 

In various climes, in every land, whé¢re shines the light of day, 
That nationless and scattered band beg but the leave to stay! 


49 


In each most crowded city where sin and vice abound, 

Heirs to contempt and pity, the race is ever found. 

There’s not a spot so vile and low, if only gold be there, 

But braving every care and woe, the Jew has placed his lair; 
And in the lowest depth of place, ’midst their unhallowed spoil, 
Sons of the consecrated race brood o’er their sordid toil ! 

In such predicted state we see the chosen of the Lord,— 
Surely the Man of Galilee was the prophetic Word! 


20 


Christian, for conscience’ sake forbear to judge the faithless 
Jew: 

Look first within! Examine there, if thine own self be true! 

‘Though taught at thy Redeemer’s name in reverence to bow, — 

Should He incarnate come again, would’st thou accept him 
now? 

Unless thy soul be found, within, fit Temple for his word, 

Christian! thou hast the Jewish sin! thou dost reject thy 
Lord. 


? 


THE END. s 


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